Until Christmas
by UrGayLuvr
Summary: Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents? — Warnings: OOCness, contains M/M, not HBP or DH compatable
1. The Envelope

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters belonging to said series. I do not even think it would be considered fanfiction if I did own it, which I do not.

* * *

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 1:** The Envelope

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, and maybe M/M relations (later and still in debate).

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December 8, 1997

It seemed to be an odd Monday for Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He'd woken up from a dreamless sleep actually early enough to take a shower before heading down to breakfast with Ron and Dean, who both grumbled about being woken up five minutes too early. Seamus and Neville had apparently already left before Harry had even woken up. But that didn't really surprise the other boys too much; those two had always been more morning compatible compared to their other dorm-mates.

By the time they had arrived to breakfast, Harry and Dean had gotten in a few laughs at the expense of Ron who had already tripped on his way out of the portrait hole, "stepped" onto the missing step on the stairs, and caught with his wand drawn towards his two friends (who were laughing at him) by Snape. But despite the small mishaps that morning, the group of boys joined their friends at Gryffindor house table in bright spirits; none of them seeing the point in being upset so close to Christmas break.

Harry smiled as he grabbed the seat between Hermione and Neville, exchanging greetings with everyone in their group; glaring half-heartedly as his friends all added their additions to his plate when he only grabbed two pieces of toast and some jam.

"E't mo'," Ron muttered around the bites of food that he had already shoved into his mouth, shirting five pieces of bacon onto Harry's over-flowing plate. And his plate was over-flowing; not in the sense that the green-eyed boy's friends had piled too many things on, but had completely covered the two pieces of toast that he had been planning to eat.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, flabbergasted at the complete lack of table manners in his chewing of food and leaning over the table.

The red-haired teen looked confusedly between his friends' faces, "Wha'"

"For the love of that is Merlin! Ron stop!" Harry's bushy-haired friend curled her lip in disgust before turning away from the scene of half chewed sausage and eggs.

"Thanks, mate, for the bacon and, uh... show." The green-eyed teen chuckled slightly before tapping his lips with a finger, moving onto eating his own breakfast while Ron quickly caught on to his friend's meaning. The group was quiet for a few more minutes before it was interrupted by Ron's lack of manners again.

"I real ant leave Umble'ore 's retting 's ot-" the red-head stopped suddenly causing the rest of the group to laugh when they noticed the look Hermione was sending the boy's way, which he had caught sight of and was now trying to finish off the food in his mouth quickly, having to down his entire glass of pumpkin juice to do it. Ron cleared his throat and looked down at the table after his small choking fit, "Sorry."

Hermione sniffed lightly before pushing her finished plate away from her, setting a Charms book in its place, which she immediately opened and flipped to an already marked page, "Apology accepted."

Ron smiled and nodded to Harry, leaning forward towards the other boy, "Like I was saying, I still can't believe Dumbledore is letting us out for Christmas break an entire five weeks!"

"I heard his original plan was to let break be from the fifteenth to the fifteenth, but he didn't want to start the new term on a Thursday. So he just gave us the rest of the week," Seamus said jumping from his conversation with Dean to the one that was going to end up more interesting; the other boy only nodding along with his friend, attention in the earlier conversation lost.

"Why doesn't he make it the thirteenth through the thirteenth? Then the new term would be starting on a Tuesday," Harry shrugged before finding Dean's hand covering his mouth and shh's coming from many of his friends.

"Harry! If it gets us more time on break and away from Snape, then Dumbledore can lose his mind more often!" Dean practically hissed at him. Harry glared at the boy and gabbing at his wrist with the fork he'd been using to eat his eggs with, the dark-skinned boy winced and withdrew his hand. "What was that for?"

"For nearly knocking Neville out of his seat to cover my mouth," Harry snapped, nodding to the boy seated next to him while cleaning off his fork so that he could continue eating his breakfast. A few familiar hooting sounds was heard overhead, causing everyone in the dining hall to look up and see owls flying circles around the rafters before heading down to the tables below.

"Monday morning mail," Dean snickered as he pushed his plate away when he noticed an owl making their way towards him.

"Nearly knocking Neville," Harry shot back, noticing Hedwig among the owls hovering above the Gryffindor table. He picked up a few pieces of bacon and held out his arm from her to land on; she hooted upon landing, dropping the envelope she'd brought onto the table and snapped at the strips. Once his owl was finished, he let her fly off after petting the feathers on her chest lightly; Harry was left staring at the sealed envelope before him. Taking a quick glance at his friends, Harry picked it up and read the ornate, curved writing across the front:

_Open at 12:00_

The green-eyed teen blinked and stared at the writing as if not understanding, flipping the envelope over only to be met with the wax-sealing of a swirling, knotted design. Harry sighed and shook his head before turning to poke Hermione in her shoulder. "What's the big idea?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The bushy-haired girl asked looking confused, but Harry wasn't fooled.

He rolled his eyes and held up the envelope, "Why did you send this to me?"

The girl in question stared right into his eyes and blinked in confusion before turning her eyes to the piece of mail in his hand. Hermione stared at it for a few seconds before shaking her head, returning her gaze to meet Harry's, "I didn't send that to you."

This caught the teen off guard. Turning back to face forward in his seat Harry stared at the writing once more, tracing the loops and curves with his eyes; searching silently for an answer to the rising number of questions in his mind. Shifting his green eyes towards his other friends he found them looking between him and the envelope in his hand, but none of them acknowledged that it came from them by showing genuine curiosity in his delivery. "If it isn't from any of you, who is it from?"

Unfortunately, Harry would have to wait for that answer to come when the group noticed bunches of students standing from their places at their house tables and making their way out of the Great Hall, heading to their first class of the day.

Hermione patted her friend on the shoulder before standing up, "Come on, Harry. You know how Professor Snape gets if we show up late for class."

"Yeah, I know; and I'd rather not end up scrubbing cauldrons over the break."

* * *

_Oh, Merlin! Whoever sent me this letter seriously means to torture me! I don't think I can stand it much longer!_

Double Potions was usually a grueling class to deal with, especially since Gryffindor had always been paired with Slytherin to take the course. Harry considered himself lucky today, though. He would usually get paired up with Ron or Neville to make the potion that counted for a third of their grade; but oddly enough, Snape had actually paired him up with Hermione.

This is probably one of the only thoughts that were taking his attention away from the envelope he had safely tucked in the inner pocket of his school robes. Harry changed his thoughts back to the letter that he wasn't able to open until the given time; well he guessed it was a letter, it had to be because he couldn't exactly think of anything else that it could be. But then why would the person that sent the letter and say that it shouldn't be opened until 12:00. It didn't really make any since to the green-eyed boy.

Then there was also the fact that it couldn't be opened until that time. It's not that Harry himself had gotten so curious that he tried to open it, even though he was; Ron had actually took the envelope from him and attempted to open it, but had received a shock... literally.

The tall boy himself was situated at a table with Seamus, both looked practically miserable as they tried to follow the instructions to the potion the two had picked from the book as their potion. But poor Ron was getting laughed at by the Slytherins that were in front of and behind the two; his hair had suffered from the shock and was still standing on end, going every which way. Even Snape's sneer seemed to flatten out every time he passed their table.

Thinking of how his best mate had tried to open the envelope brought Harry's thoughts back to the folded parchment at present. Who could have possibly sent it to him? And whoever it was had used Hedwig, so that could only mean that the person was someone that was at Hogwarts, be it a student or a professor.

"Harry!" A voice hissed close to where the one being called was standing.

The boy blinked and turned his head towards Hermione, who stood with one hand on her hip while the other held the stirring stick. He blushed and ducked his head slightly, eyes being brought to the cutting board in front of him where he noticed the vanilla beans that he had yet to slice. "Oh, bollocks."

"Exactly! Now hurry and slice them length wise before the potion turns orange!" Hermione turned back to the potion and watched it closely, stirring it twice before letting it sit once more. The girl sighed and stole a quick glance at her friend, "Honestly, Hare, it's no wonder that you don't make good marks in potions! You haven't the attention for it!"

Harry grinned, "Sorry, Mione. Ever since I got that letter I haven't been able to take my mind off it; and I haven't even read it yet!" He saw a smile spread across the girl's face before she stole a glance at his work and frowned.

"Length wise, Hare, you're suppose to slice them length wise." She paused and watched him adjust his cutting, nodding to indicate that he was doing it correctly before turning back to the cauldron. "Okay, get ready to put those in."

Picking up the strips with his cutting knife, Harry placed them onto a small dish that he handed to Hermione to put in; he would have done it himself but he hadn't read how they needed to be put in, so he just left it up to his more capable partner. Taking a peek at the potion he noticed that it turned from orange to yellow before the girl could add the bean, which she went ahead and slid into the potion anyways. "Mione! The vanilla was—!"

"Suppose to be put in when the potion turns yellow," Hermione cut him off before he could finish his sentence, causing him to give her a confused look. "I told you to have them cut before the orange stage because the yellow doesn't last very long." She smiled at him before stirring the potion eight times clockwise and stepped away.

"We're done, Hare."

"Merlin, you can be real cheeky when you want to be," Harry muttered under his breath as Hermione stuck her tongue out at him before collecting a few potion bottles and began filling them. Just as Harry finished corking them Snape drifted by and took a look at their potion, sneering slightly and turned his nose up.

"Be sure to include," their professor paused and turned his glare onto Harry, "_all_ the details in the assigned observation essay."

As Snape moved away from them, Harry flinched in scolding, "I should have paid more close attention."

"Don't worry, Hare. It won't be due until next class, so I'll be able to help you with it," Hermione smiled and leaned closer to the boy, "Slightly."

"Only slightly?" Harry asked hopefully, in which he received a curt nod from his partner that drew out a large sigh from his lips, "That's what I was afraid of."

* * *

When Potions had finally been released, Harry nearly ran down a few Slytherins in his rushed to get out of the class and to the Great Hall. He threw an apology over his shoulder that shocked the small group long enough that they had not gotten the chance to draw their wands at the boy, but still managed to leave a question hanging in the front of their minds, "Had Harry Potter actually _apologized_ to Slytherins?"

Racing into the dining hall and over to the Gryffindor table, Harry found a quick seat and began piling things onto his plate. Whispering a time charm he settled down disappointedly when he noticed that he had a whole seven more minutes before he could open the envelope. Someone tapped the green-eyed boy's shoulder before sitting down on the opposite side of him. Harry took a small glance at the person and grinned, "Hey, Ginny. Ready for the break?"

The girl smiled back and nodded before filling up her own plate, "Just about! I've got two more tests to study majorly for but otherwise I'm set to go home. Mum's been writing loads lately! I think she's anxious to have us all home."

Harry nodded at his best mate's sister, half listening while taking a bite of his food after pushing it around a few times. He whispered another time charm before smirking, _Three more minutes_. "I heard there's going to be a family reunion at the Burrow this year."

"Mmmhmm, mum's gone completely mental. At least that's what the twins have said," she giggled slightly to herself about something, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice and continued on, only taking slight notice to the people settling in around them. "Apparently, she comes by the shop every day just to tell them not to forget to pick up a few things for her, that she ends up getting herself, and slipping in the fact that there will be some girls for them to meet at some point. She's bloody bent on getting grandchildren!"

He chuckled around the food in his mouth, swallowing it with only a little bit of difficulty before repeating the same charm again, jumping slightly when he noticed that it was 12:01. Harry dropped his fork and reached into his inner robe pocket, pulling out the envelope that had been on his mind since early morning. Gulping back the sudden and unexplainable nervousness, he slipped his finger under flap and winced, fully expecting to be shocked like Ron. Luckily, the only thing that happened was the wax-seal peeling away from the rest of the envelope.

Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Harry flipped the flap back and revealed a cream colored piece of stationary with the same curved hand-writing peeking out from within the envelope. Not taking notice to anyone around him, the green-eyed boy slipped the paper out and began to read it excitedly.

_To: Harry Potter_

At least now he knew the letter had been meant for him to read in the first place.

_A large red box, is what you seek,_

_Whose wrappings are anything but meek._

_Found at the place where students expand their minds,_

_A view by the creatures kept in spines._

_From: _

"Huh?"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Cryptic isn't it?"

"It's addressed to you like a gift, Hare."

"They didn't even sign a name! What's the point in putting 'From' if you're not going to say who?"

"I expect someone's messing with you, Harry."

Harry blinked and looked over his shoulder, jumping when he saw how many of his friends had gathered so close behind him. "Bloody hell! What do you think you're doing?"

"Satisfying our curiosity for the letter you got this morning that gave Ron here such a shock!" Dean said with a smirk, patting Ron on the back rough enough to send the biscuit in his mouth flying out onto the table.

"Oi! Watch it!" The red-head quickly spun on the dark-skinned boy and shoved his shoulders, nearly sending him and Neville into the group of Ravenclaws walking up the aisle.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the lot, taking a seat next to her defeated looking friend, "I believe it's a gift."

"Hmm?" Harry turned his eyes towards the bushy-haired girl next to him and tilted his head in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

She smiled and shook her head, sending the hair that had fallen over her shoulder back into the mass resting against her back. Hermione pointed her finger at the letter, tapping the stationary lightly, "Look at the way that it is addressed to you and then signed, or suppose to be signed. It's like they were marking a present to you."

"Huh, well look at that. You're right, Mione." The boy noticed out of the corner of his eye how his friend sat up straighter and how her smiled brightened, Hermione did always like to be right and liked it even more when someone called her out on it. "But why would the person that sent me this do that?"

"Probably a clue," Neville cut in timidly. Apparently he had had enough of being pushed around for one day and escaped to the other side of the Gryffindor table, unnoticed by the rough-housing teen boys behind Harry and Hermione. "The person addressed the letter to you like a present to maybe highlight the 'red box' and 'wrappings' within the riddle. It may be a Christmas present for you, Harry."

The green-eyed teen carded his free hand through his unruly locks while staring down at the writing, "So it's a present that I 'seek'? I'm supposed to look for it? Or does it come to me?"

"I think you're supposed to look for it, Hare. I mean, look at the last two lines: Found at the place where students expand their minds, a view by the creatures kept in spines. I'm sure that's a clue to where the present is going to be," said Hermione as she took a biscuit from one of the baskets in the middle of the table and took a small bite.

"'Where students expand their minds', could mean that it's going to be found here at the school." The boy sitting across from the girl added while placing a few things onto his own plate, taking a few bites before pouring some juice into his own cup.

Harry frowned and looked down at the writing once more, reading it over again before shaking his head, "You may be right, but I think that that is too broad. What about the 'creatures' part, why not just say animals?"

"Maybe they meant just that, though. They aren't animals but creatures, magical creatures. That could mean the forest or even Hagrid," Hermione leaned in closer, starting to get excited over the chance to unravel the riddle.

"Yeah, that would make sense! 'Students can expand their minds' about 'creatures' in Care of Magical Creatures class! That means Hagrid is the one who has your present!" Neville smiled and nodded at Hermione who copied the move, turning to Harry and giving his hand a squeeze.

The green-eyed boy returned a small grin and nodded, disappointed that the mystery was over but still slightly bothered by something about the 'answer' not being right. "I suppose I could go down there after class."

* * *

Harry found himself sighing again. He couldn't figure out why but something about the answer that his friends had help him come up with still seemed wrong, even though it did sound reasonable and he didn't exactly want to call his friends out for being wrong. Especially, since they both helped him without even needing to be asked; and slightly out of fear of having to tell Hermione that she may-sort-of-possibly-could-maybe be (just a smidge) wrong. But only slightly.

It was the last class of the day and Harry still couldn't get the riddle out of his mind. He had even memorized it with how many times he'd looked at the paper during his classes after lunch. Something was missing, and Harry couldn't put his finger on what it was. He'd dazed out many times during his classes to try and figure out what he could possibly be looking over, or if he could have misinterpreted some words. But he couldn't come up with anything. The more that he thought about it, the sounder his friends' answer became.

When Professor Binns' suddenly stopped talking was when Harry was finally brought out of his musings, "Class dismissed."

The teen stretched and closed the two texts in front of him. For a reason unbeknownst to him and most of the class, their ghost of a professor had decided that they would get out their History of Magic book as well as chronology book of the most recent goblin rebellion.

Harry stifled a yawn as he shoved his history text into his bag before following a few Slytherins over to the bookshelf to return the other book they were forced to have open. He stretched once more before shoving the book onto a random shelf and turning heal to exit the classroom, _Why did he even bother with books today? All his classes are lectures anyways._

"Oi, Potter!"

The green-eyed boy froze and turned to meet the glare of steel-grey eyes, Harry still couldn't understand why git in front of him had come to hate him so much. It could have something to do with him not taking his hand in friendship during their first year, but just because he didn't take his hand didn't mean that he wouldn't take his friendship. _Prat_. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Make sure you put books away with the spine facing outward, Potter. -Some- people like to know what kind of book their picking up." The blond sneered at the boy in front of him and made his way to brush past Harry.

"What?"

"Basically, you're an idiot, Potter." The Slytherins left in the classroom all snickered and waited around, hopefully to caught a fight in action and possibly see Harry hexed a few times.

"No, what did you just say?" Harry asked, taking a step towards the blond and completely ignored the fact that he had been insulted. He had something more important on his mind at this moment than having to deal with petty quarrels with a certain greasy-haired git.

Malfoy released a sigh, "Geez, Potter. You don't listen. I said, 'Make sure you put books away with the spine facing outward. Some people—"

Harry waved his hand in dismissal, "Yeah, yeah, I heard the rest. But the first part," he trailed off and turned his gaze off to the side, leaving the Slytherins in the room to share looks saying: Harry Potter has lost his mind.

_'Found at the place where students expand their minds, a view by the creatures kept in spines.' 'Spines', could mean spines of books. Books can be found all over the school though. 'Expand their minds', that could mean classrooms with books or the... Library! Oh, Merlin! Those two lines were talking about the Magical Creature section in the library!_ Harry smile wide and nodded at Malfoy, "You're a genius, Malfoy! Thank you!"

Leaving the now shocked-silent Slytherins, Harry ran out of the class room and down the hall towards the stairs; completely missing the small discussion that was left for the students from the rival house to have about his bazaar behavior.

"Did that just happen?" Draco asked to no one in particular as he started at the spot Potter had been standing at not a few seconds ago.

"I saw it, but I can't believe it," Pansy whispered back while linking the blond's arm with her own, a way that she could tell that what just occurred was real and not a figment of imagination; much better than pinching her perfect skin. "Did you hear that he actually _apologized_ and helped up some Slytherins he had knocked down this morning?"

"I heard Potter had actually flirted with one of them as he helped clean something that spilled onto their robes," Blaise interjected from the opposite side of Draco than Pansy, both turning to him with a raised brow. "Alright, alright. No way could that be true; but still, I like to have my fun."

"If Potter did ever flirt with a Slytherin, I would seriously have to consider what this world is coming to," Shaking his head, Draco proceeded to lead his fellow Slytherins out of the room and towards the dungeons.

* * *

Harry stopped to catch his breath just outside of the library before going in and rushing past the main desk, back towards the rows of bookshelves. A few students were found among the stacks and at small desks spread out between the shelves, but none of them concerned the green-eyed teen. He hurried to the back, taking a sharp left when he reached the section he needed to. But he froze, all he could see were neutral covered books, no red that popped out at him.

Going down the aisle, Harry peeked behind some books that were left on a desk and even stood on one of the chairs to see if there was anything on the higher shelves. When he finally made it down to the end of the section, Harry shook his head and let his unkempt bangs hang in his eyes before he plopped down into the chair right next to the window.

He sighed heavily, laying his head onto the sill in defeat, "Maybe Neville and Hermione were right, maybe Hagrid does have the present." Huffing he buried his head in the crook of his arm, cursing the feeling he had on his friends being wrong. Harry sat back up and rubbed his face with his hands, he suddenly spied something glittering out of the corner of his eye; when his gaze flickered over to it he gasped.

There, situated in the corner of the window sill was a tiny red box with a note attached to it that was written in the same hand-writing as the letter from this morning. Harry picked up the box and smirked, "'Large' my arse."

He shrugged it off and read the note quickly before understanding the meaning of the 'large red box'. Harry took out his wand, setting the box onto the desktop and tapping it with his wand. "_Engorgio_."

The teen had to step back suddenly when the box grew just as long as he himself was tall and the width two times the length of his wand. He smiled and stared at the present, understanding what the person meant by the 'wrappings' not being 'meek'; the paper its self was Gryffindor red with depictions of golden quittage players flying all around the box, and the ribbon was the same gold as the players. Harry noticed an envelope tucked away under the top part of the bow, which he eagerly slipped out but there was nothing written on the top of the envelope so the teen figured he could go ahead and open it. When he slipped the letter out he was surprised at what he found.

_To: Harry Potter_

_First one down, Sixteen to go;_

_This process repeats, just so you know._

_With each day, there will be one more;_

_I hope to make your Christmas, less of a bore._

_There is a meaning, with each gift;_

_In which your spirits, I wish to uplift._

_Christmas day, upon the set of the sun;_

_All will be said and done._

_From: _

"Again with no name, who do you think you are?" Harry sighed and stared at the hand-writing, reading over the small poem before shaking his head. "Seriously, every day until Christmas you plan to do this? And why seventeen presents? What are these meanings you're talking about?" The green-eyed teen gritted his teeth, "I'm going mental! I'm asking questions out loud to no one; as if they're going to get answered!"

* * *

**A/N: **

Yes mental indeed, Harry. But you have left our readers off with some very good questions! None of which will be answered in the next chapter!... Except maybe the one about 'a present a day'. Anyways, tell me what you think... Even though this will be updated later today, and I promise it will be!

Make sure to answer my questions about the update... and anything else I asked! OH! And I would LOVE to hear who you think is the mystery person is! Your answer may ever change over time!

Now, for some funny stuff that I decided to add at that last minute!

* * *

**Blooper:**

Then there was also the fact that it couldn't be opened until that time. It's not that Harry himself had gotten so curious that he tried to open it, even though he was; Ron had actually took the envelope from him and attempted to open it, but had received a shock... literally.

The tall boy himself was situated at a table with Seamus, both looked practically miserable as they tried to follow the instructions to the potion the two had picked from the book as their potion. But poor Ron was getting laughed at by the Slytherins that were in front of and behind the two; his hair had suffered from the shock and was still standing on end, going every which way. Even Snape's sneer seemed to flatten out every time he passed their table.

Thinking of how his best mate had tried to open the envelope brought Harry's thoughts back—

_**BANG!**_

A loud explosion drew Harry's attention to the billowing smoke coming from the back of the classroom where Slytherin and Gryffindor students came rushing out and away from the black cloud. The person to step away from disaster was covered in clomps of black goo and grease, their hair standing on end and a small patch of it on fire (which was quickly put out).

"Neville! You weren't supposed to be making a potion in this scene!"

"Sorry! But it was _your_ decision to put me into the N.E.W.T. potions class!"

* * *

**Next Time On: **Until Christmas

Harry shook his head at the red-head sitting on the couch opposite of him, "No, Ron. I'm not going to let you do that to me!"

"Aw! Come one, mate! I won't hurt at all!" He grinned and leaned toward the smaller teen, placing his hand on the table suggestively, "Just a little, a peek is all I want!"

"No!" The green-eyed boy slouched into his seat, crossing his arms across his chest in childish defiance; even stomping his foot down on the ground to add emphasis.

"Why not?" The taller of the two whined and pouted, extremely disappointed in not getting what he wanted.

"Because Ron! I actually want to do the unthinkable and _wait_ until Christmas to open my Christmas present!"

* * *

TeeHee! That was fun! Tell me what you think and if I should continue with the Bloppers and Next Time stuff!

Thank you!

—UrGayLuvr


	2. Pitch It to Me

**A/N:**

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

* * *

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 2:** Pitch it to Me

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, and maybe M/M relations (later and still in debate).

* * *

December 9, 1997

This may have been the first day in a long time that Harry actually jumped out of bed to get ready for his school day to begin, and even more eager to get down to breakfast to receive his next envelope. Though he was fully expecting not being able to open it until the same time as yesterday, it didn't make the adventure any less fun.

Snatching up his robes for the day quickly made his way into the bathroom to wash his face, he was too anxious to take a shower right now and figured that he was would just take one later tonight as a means to relax. Harry smiled and greeted Neville before he wiped the steam from the mirror above the sinks, "Good morning!"

The other boy returned his smile, adding in a nod as he finished toweling off his hair, "Morning, Harry. Still excited over that present from yesterday?"

Harry shook his head, turning the tap on and splashing his face with some cold water. Smoothing his sleep-shocked hair back by carding his wet fingers through the strands, "Yes and no. I'm actually suppose to be getting one every single day until Christmas. The second one is going to be delivered today and I've only got one class right after lunch."

"Really? But what if you don't find it before Astronomy class tonight?"

_Oh, that's right._ Harry thought to himself while drying off his face and hair. _I would have to try and rush to find it today. Mione can't help me after Divination because she has Ancient Runes, and Neville helps Professor Sprout today, too. I'm pretty much on my own._

"Harry?" Neville asked timidly, tapping the other boy's shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh! Sorry, Neville, I spaced out." The teen quickly changed into his school robes, "I think I can do okay on my own today. Besides, I'm going to end up doing most of the riddle solving once the break starts, anyways; since almost the entire Gryffindor house will be gone."

"I'll be here, but most of my time will be helping with the green-houses. I will help you if you need it though, Harry." The chubbier boy smiled and stepped over to the bathroom door, opening it for the two to exit. "Plants are finicky; but if they can survive on their own in nature, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few spared minutes for you."

"Thanks, mate!" Harry patted Neville on the back as they walked past the beds of their still sleeping dorm-mates.

Both teens jumped in fright when Seamus suddenly sat straight up in his bed. They released heavy sighs of relief when the other boy waved his hand slightly in greeting, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands and muttering out what sounded like a 'Good morning'.

"Morning, Seamus. Sorry if we woke you," Harry whispered, afraid that he would wake the other sleeping boys if his voice was too loud.

"N-no, i-it's o-okay, Harry. Seamus always wakes up like th-that," Neville said shakily, making his way quickly out of the room and down the stairs towards the common-room.

As the other teen disappeared, Harry chuckled to himself and made to follow after him. "See you at breakfast, mate."

The waking teen yawned and nodded, "C'ya, 'arry."

Neville heard Harry sigh for the eighth time since the two had taken their seats at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He watched as his friend pushed some eggs around his plate before taking a small bite, making Neville want to pile more food onto his plate.

"Hare, don't worry. The mail should be coming any minute now," Hermione said quietly will patting his hand. She had actually been down at the table reading a book when the two boys had arrived, Harry eagerly sharing the fact that he was getting another letter today. The girl had frowned in confusion at first, but saw how excited her friend was over being sent on another 'adventure', as he called it, and quickly changed her mood.

The green-eyed boy nodded, feeling less anxious on the prospect of the letter not coming and ate more of what was put onto his plate; making the group of friends seated around him smile.

Harry took quick glances at his friends and watched as they ate, chatted, or read a book. Looking at how calm they were now, he wouldn't have been able to guess that these were the same people that had been all over him the night before about the envelope and the present that he brought in.

_**Flashback:**_

_As soon as the green-eyed boy stepped through the portrait-hole to the common-rooms, he felt a change in the air, there was a thickness to the atmosphere that he couldn't quite name... until he stepped around the corner and into the room. _

_Seated on the large red couches around the only coffee table in the room, as if the reaper himself had descended upon them, were all of Harry's closes friends. What he found weird about the whole situation was that none of them were even pretending to do something else as he walked toward them. "Um, what happened?"_

_Suddenly, he found himself being picked up by the upper parts of his arms and maneuvered over to one of the high-backed sitting chairs. _

_"Okay, Potter! Spill it!"_

_"What did that envelope lead you to?"_

_"Why so frightened? Scared to share something with you best mate?"_

_"Hey, I don't think this is the right way to go about this." _

_All eyes turned to Neville, who immediately sunk back into the chair that he had been sitting in and averted his gaze to another part of the room. Just as the others turned back to continue with their interrogation, another person decided to interrupt._

_"What do you _think_ you're doing to my Hare-bear?"_

_The teens gather around Harry all scattered away from him, nearly tripping over each other in a race to get on the other side of the table. The all made sure that they had something between them and the bushy-haired girl that came stomping over to the chair their victim had been sat in._

_Hermione took a quick glance at her friend and smiled when he rolled his eyes at her, "Did you really have to call me 'Hare-bear'?"_

_"No, but I thought it would add a little more stress to the situation," she responded shrugging her shoulders before taking a seat on the nearest couch. But the she wasn't done with the boys that had taken their joking too far, some of which (the ones that didn't know her well enough) were relaxing after the fright she had given them. _

_"Now, the lot of you better explain what you were doing."_

_Ron, after taking a quick glance at the faces around him, took the initiative and spoke first, "We were just—"_

_"Being muppets."_

_"Mione!" Harry gasped, holding back his laughter just enough to cover it up with a choked cough._

_"What? It's true. If it had been anyone else but them, or had you not known it was them taking you, _they_ wouldn't be standing here looking all cheery!" Hermione stated matter-of-factly as she made herself comfortable on the couch, knowing that she was correct in her assessment. Her point got across the group of boys rather quickly when they all nodded in agreement; they had been lucky to have had Harry see them before they grabbed him._

_"Sorry, mate. We just wanted to know if you found anything from that riddle," Dean muttered with his head ducked slightly and a small apologetic smile on his face, the other teens all nodding in agreement._

Band-wagon bobble-heads,_ Harry thought to himself, a smile spreading across his face. "You could have just asked nicely. It's not like I was going to keep it a secret from you!" _

_Reaching into his inner robe pocket, the green-eyed teen pulled out the envelope that he had received this morning as well as the miniaturized red box that it had lead him to. He scooted to the edge of his seat and placed the envelope on the table before holding out the gift in his hand._

_"It's shrunken right now, and it wasn't exactly easy to find," Harry carefully thought about how to phrase his next words so that he wouldn't end up hurting Neville's or Hermione's feelings. "I found it in the Magical Creature's section of the library after accidently figuring out what the 'spine' part of the riddle stood for, and the 'view' part was talking about it being at the window."_

_"So it wasn't with Hagrid?" The bushy-haired girl asked, eye-brows drawn together in confusion, as she leaned in to take a look at the tiny red box along with a the other teens in the common-room._

_"Nope. When we were first looking at the riddle we had skipped over the 'view' and 'spine' part, so it seemed like the answer that we had come up with was right. I hadn't even realized that we had skipped over that part until Malfoy had said something about book spines." Harry stated, skillfully skirting around saying that it had been all of their faults, and not pinning it on one person._

_"Malfoy? You _talked_ to Malfoy?" Ron asked, confused and angry that his friend had talked to his enemy about the letter and not him._

_"No, he said something to me about book spines in class and it had reminded me of the riddle," shrugging the teen picked the envelope back up from the table, placing both it and his present into the inner pocket within his robe. _

_"We done? Because Mione here has to help me with my potions' essay."_

_**End Flashback**_

Just as Harry came out of his musings he heard the tale-tell signs of hooting owls and jumped excitedly; pushing his plate away from himself, giving Hedwig a place to land, while grabbing up a few pieces of bacon. The snow owl swooped down, passing over the green-eyed boy once before circling back and landing in the spot that had been made for her. Dropping the letter onto the table, she immediately went for the bacon strips held out for her to take.

Harry laughed and petted the feathers on her chest lightly, "Thanks, girl. You made my day."

With a hoot and a flap of her wings she signaled her leave, following the other owls as they exited the Great Hall. But Harry didn't even take a second glance at her departure, all his attention was on the envelope sitting innocently in front of him. Not bothering to share any looks with his friends, he picked up the folded parchment with both hands and lightly traced the edges before finally reading the familiar ornate hand-writing.

_Open at 12:00_

The same words in the same writing with, Harry flipped the envelope over, the same wax-seal. _Yup, I was right._

Harry didn't even bother to wait to open the letter. He would have waited on normal circumstances, but there had been an accident in Herbology class causing all the students to stay after class to help clean up the mess. The green-eyed boy didn't mind so much because it just meant that he was preoccupied enough to where he wasn't casting a time charm every few minutes. But now it was nearly ten after the time he was allowed to open the envelope and he really felt he couldn't wait any longer.

Rushing out of the green-house, the teen quickly shuffled over to a nearby bench and cast his bag off his shoulder. Dropping onto the cement seat with the letter already in hand and he slid a single finger underneath the flap, pulling the paper within out. Biting his lip anxiously, he barely kept his excitement in as his green-eyes easily followed the curved and perfect hand-writing:

_To: Harry Potter_

_From when red finds yellow, to be its lover;_

_Comes the shade of this gift's cover._

_Leave this box alone too long;_

_The chance of being picked up is strong._

_Merry cheers make the air rich;_

_But songs have nothing to do with this pitch._

_From:_

"You're leaving me without a name again," Harry frowned at the lack of signature, letting his eyes drift back over the riddle he was left with. "Red and yellow becoming one is orange. So it's an orange box left in a public place. That could practically be anywhere in the castle!"

Drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly in a sigh, he looked over the last two lines once more, "'Merry cheers', as in holiday spirits? That could mean singing, but they say 'songs' and nothing to do with it. But why did they use 'air' and 'pitch'?" Harry groaned slightly and went back to gnawing at his bottom lip; he would have probably stayed like that until he'd figured it out. That was till his stomach gave a loud protest to being ignored.

Taking a few glances around, the teen blushed and stood up; slipping the envelope and riddle back into his pocket before grabbing his bag off the ground. "Better hurry before Ron and Seamus eat all the good stuff."

Hermione took a quick glance at the note that was just slipped into her book, then at the boy who had put it there and was not surprised when he pretended to be looking into the crystal ball on their table. It was a wonder how Harry had passed the Divination part of the N.E.W.T. exams and even more of _why_ he had actually decided to take the class. She herself had passed the D.A.D.A part but had decided against taking the course because she was more interested in the two subjects that both Harry and Ron wouldn't go near, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Besides all that, he didn't even_ like_ Divination.

She could only sigh though. More than likely Harry had been forced to take the class over something he didn't like more than this class; Ron had done it, taken the N.E.W.T. Potions class over Divination, but it was a miracle that he'd even passed both parts with A's.

_But how did he even get into Potions with only an A?_ Hermione had to brush those thoughts out of her head quickly though, she stole a look at Professor Trelawney before flipping the note over so that she could read it. Barely holding in a gasp, she was surprised to find that Harry had slipped her a new riddle that she suppose came from the envelope he'd been twitching about this morning.

When she looked up at Harry he carefully mouthed a question to her, -What are the different meanings to 'pitch'?-

The bushy-haired girl waited until the teacher passed by her before answering, -They could mean voice.-

-But it says 'songs' have nothing to do with it.- He countered quickly before looking down at his book, flipping a page as if he was looking for something; only to look back at Hermione when Trelawney turned away from them to interact with a Ravenclaw.

-'Pitch' does not just stand for singing. It could also be for talking, or even something not involved with the voice. Like 'pitching' a tent, or 'pitching' a ball.- She watched as the look on Harry's face changed, the wrinkles that showed up on his forehead when he was deep in thought appeared.

_'Pitching' a ball. If they had meant it in that sense they could be talking about a quaffle. Then again, it is called a Quidditch 'Pitch'; and during a game it does get pretty loud with 'cheers'. 'Merry' ones if you're winning._ Harry gasped and looked at Hermione. "I figured it out."

Her eyes widened and glancing over at where Trelawney was standing, noticing that she hadn't heard the boy speak aloud. The teen girl leaned towards her friend, "Tell me."

"It's going to be at the Quidditch Pitch," Harry smiled and rubbed elbows with Hermione. "I was just thinking of how it feels to be flying around while our team is winning, and how nice the air feels when our house cheering us on. It fits perfectly with the riddle and makes sense!"

"What makes sense Mr. Potter?"

The boy jumped back from where he was leaning close to his friend, gulping in the nervousness as he was stared down by large magnified eyes. "It makes sense that, um, that..."

"That what? What did you see within the crystal ball that makes so much sense?"

"Th-that the last Quidditch game of the term is going to be cancelled due to a snow storm and the train out of Hogsmeade will be delayed a few hours." Harry watched as the professor looked down at him before turning her eyes to the ball situated in the middle of their table.

"Ah, I see."

Hermione shared a look with the still shocked boy and shook her head, mouthing out a -Wow.-

-I know.-

Harry shouted in frustration as he lay out onto one of the benches in the fourth Quidditch tower, he'd searched a little more than half of the spectator stands and still had not found hide-nor-hair of present. Sighing, the teen admitted to himself that he needed a break. He'd been searching almost non-stop since he'd gotten out of classes, by now the entire school had been released from all their Tuesday classes and a small portion only had Astronomy left.

The sun was still another two or three hours from setting, so Harry believed he had time to find the box. If it was in the stands, that is. But Harry was beginning to think that it wasn't even at the Pitch anymore.

Whining at the unfairness of the world, he rolled off the bench and onto his feet; briefly catching something green flying around in the corner of his eye. Turning his attention to the field Harry caught sight of the Slytherin Quidditch team, _Must be their practice day... Oh, bugger! Gryffindor practice is tomorrow! What am I going to do about the present?_

He let out another whine while leaning heavily against the wooden railing, watching as the green-robed players flew every which way in practice. Harry recognized a few play patterns from previous game experience, as well as a new one that involved all the chasers to dive down close to the ground.

That's when Harry saw it. Right in the middle of the circled green of the Quidditch field was an orange box, completely out of place and calling him like a neon sign in the dead of night. _Why did I not think of looking down on the field?_

The green-eyed boy laughed aloud before his gaze catches a familiar figure flying overhead at a fast rate, _The seeker and the snitch_. Harry had an idea pop into his head and he mulled over it for a few minutes before shrugging, he wasn't exactly losing anything by carrying it out. So he figured it would be a good way of not having to go climb down all those stairs and onto the field with the possibility of getting berated by the whole Slytherin Quidditch team. Besides, it might get Harry a few points with Malfoy and maybe have the other boy off his back a little more.

"Malfoy! Oi! Malfoy! Over here!" The teen shouted as loud as he could, almost afraid he didn't catch his attention when the boy he'd been calling flew over to one of the beaters who just so happened to point over towards Harry. He smiled as the blond looked in his direction and green-eyed teen waved him over. A few words were exchanged between the two Slytherins before Malfoy actually flew over to where Harry was situated.

"What do you want, Potter?" The disdain in the blond's voice was dry, so it made him sound more annoyed than disgusted.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something." Harry nearly laughed at the dumb-struck look that Malfoy gave him before his mask was back securely in place.

"Have you gone mental? Why would I _ever_ help you with something, Gryffindork?" Just as the blond was about to fly off the dark-haired teen shouted something that caught his attention.

"You help me with this and I'll let you in on a little secret about the snitch that could _considerably _improve your game." The Gryffindor leaned onto the ledge, resting his chin on his folded arms with a small smile spreading across his lips when the Slytherin flew closer to him.

"Are you lying?"

Harry gasped and a mock look of appall came across his face, "Malfoy, I'm insulted! I don't lie! Skirt around the true, yes; but I don't lie!"

The blond narrowed his steel-grey eyes at his rival, studying him and searching for any sign of trickery before nodding, "What exactly do you want, Potter?"

He smiled and jumped up, pointing to the middle of the field, "That orange box over there."

The young Malfoy followed the other boy's finger and spotted the orange box, looking like a smudge on the green surroundings. He left the boy's side quickly and headed towards the middle of the field, noticing how the Quidditch trunk where the balls were kept was not too far off. The blond picked up, what he now recognized as a present, the metallic orange box without getting off his broom before flying back over to Potter, who was looking overly excited.

"Thanks, Malfoy!" Harry held back happy dance once the present had been passed over to him. It wasn't anywhere as big as the present he had received yesterday, but it didn't stop him from feeling the immense joy of having something to open on Christmas.

"Welcome," the blond felt slightly out-of-place by saying that to his sworn enemy, so he coughed lightly and made sure that his façade hadn't moved. "The secret, Potter. What's the secret?"

"Oh! Okay, when you are going after the snitch, be it game or practice, if you try and attack it from the left it will _always_ dive down, and if you attack it from the right it will _always_ swerve left before shooting back to the right." Harry pulled off the envelope that had been attached to the bow before tucking it into his inner-robe pocket with the one from this morning, before pulling out his wand and tapping the top of the box while whispering a shrinking charm. The brunette smile at Malfoy as he slid both the tiny box and his want into the same pocket where the envelopes were.

"Always?"

"Yup, always. It's how sometimes I look like I'm one step ahead of the snitch. Even though it doesn't fly in any particular pattern, it dodges in nothing but patterns." Harry smiled and watched as Malfoy's face turned slightly thoughtful before he turned his back to the Gryffindor.

"Thanks," the blond looked over his shoulder and bowed his head slightly to the other boy, "Potter."

Harry shook his head at the red-head sitting on the couch opposite of him, "No, Ron. I'm not going to let you do that to me!"

"Aw! Come one, mate! I won't hurt at all!" He grinned and leaned toward the smaller teen, placing his hand on the table suggestively, "Just a little, a peek is all I want!"

"No!" The green-eyed boy slouched into his seat, crossing his arms across his chest in childish defiance; even stomping his foot down on the ground to add emphasis.

"Why not?" The taller of the two whined and pouted, extremely disappointed in not getting what he wanted.

"Because, Ron! I actually want to do the unthinkable and wait until Christmas to open my Christmas presents!" Harry rolled his eyes at his friend, leaning back further into his seat and stretching his arms comfortably, knowing he'd won this round. He raised an eyebrow at the taller teen before smirking, "Besides, do you honestly _want_ to find out if the same charm that was on the envelope from yesterday is on these presents?"

This caused Ron to freeze and scoot away from the down miniaturizes boxes set on the table between the two teens, "You think they would do that?"

The green-eyed boy laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know them well enough to say that they wouldn't; but they did put it on the envelope, and that only lead to where the present was. Theses," Harry waved to the two small boxes on the table, "_are_ the presents. There could be practically be _anything_ on them."

"You're right, Harry!" Ron leaned forward and looked straight into the other boy's eyes, "But doesn't that also mean that _anything_ could be inside them! Harry! You don't even know who these are coming from!"

This caused the other teen to stop all other thoughts. _Ron is right. The person that's sending me these isn't even signing their name. Could they really be sending my cursed items? But why would they plan to send so many? Who exactly is sending me these 'presents'? And what was with the letter that came with the present today?_

* * *

A/N:

All very valid questions Harry! Why must you leave us with such suspense?

TeeHee

Now, onto the fun-stuff!

* * *

Blooper:

She could only sigh though. More than likely Harry had been forced to take the class over something he didn't like more than this class; Ron had done it, taken the N.E.W.T. Potions class over Divination, but it was a miracle that he'd even passed both parts with A's.

_But how did he even get into Potions with only an A?_

"Hey, I want to know that, too!"

"Harry, you're not supposed to be able to hear internal monologues."

"But I'm curious," Harry said turning around to look towards the producer off set. "How exactly did Ron get into the N.E.W.T. Potions class when Snape only lets in those who got O's on the Potions part of the exams?"

"Really? We're going to do this now?" The producer sighed heavily while rubbing his temples.

"Rather now, then later."

"Alright! The only reason he's in N.E.W.T. Potions is because he is required to have at least six classes, Divination and Potions are the only two exams he passed compared to the other exam classes like Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic." There were a few laughs from the seated students before the producer continued, "Are satisfied? Good! Start the scene over again!"

* * *

Next Time On: Until Christmas

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." Harry whined and stared longingly at the innocently glittering gold wrappings of his next present.

"Me neither." Hermione said simply.

"I don't _want_ to do this!" The boy let out another whine as they both moved slightly closer to their destination.

"Well, if you want it you're going to have to." The bushy-haired girl shrugged, silently worrying over her friend as he fidgeted back and forth.

"I want_ it_," Harry said jabbing his finger toward the flattish box before waving his arm across the whole scene of -where- the box had been settled, "but not _this_."

"All or nothing, Hare-bear."

"Could you not call me that?" The green-eyed teen pouted, while carding both of his hands through his messy hair.

"You're the one acting like a child."

"I'm sorry that I don't want to act like an adult when the present that it suppose to be my hands, is under the _Whomping Willow_!"

* * *

WEEEEEE

All finished for today! I'll see you all next time!

—UrGayLuvr


	3. Whomping Mess

**A/N:**

I might have... maybe... sort of... narrowed the field on _who_ the mystery "Santa Clause" is...

_But_ don't believe for a second that I won't turn it around on you later on in the story!... Maybe even next chapter!

-UrGayLuvr

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

* * *

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 3: **Whomping Mess

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, and maybe M/M relations (later and still in debate).

* * *

December 10, 1997

It's not that Harry didn't want to get out of bed this morning; he did, in fact, he couldn't wait to do it. He had actually been so excited the night before that it took him a full hour to fall asleep because he knew in a few short hours he would be off on another search for another present. A present that was for him.

Something he couldn't quite believe. Someone, a person who he had no idea could be, was sending him _Christmas presents_. Harry's own family, for as long as he could remember, had _never_ given him anything on Christmas, or on his birthday. The first present had been given to him in his first year of attending Hogwarts; though he could argue that the first had been when he was told he was a wizard and would be taken away from the Dursleys' _care_ ten months out of the year.

So it wasn't as if he didn't want to get up. He just knew as soon as he did, he would have to start thinking about exactly _how_ he was going to find the time to look for his gift while Quidditch practice was taking up the majority of his free time today.

"Harry! Get up! You're going to be late for breakfast, mate!"

The teen made a sound in the back of his throat that was somewhere between a whine and groan. Rolling onto his side Harry slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, hands rubbing his temples before sliding to cover his face.

"What am I going to do?"

"Bloody hell! Mate, you have to see how much it snowed last night! Looks like it snowed for a week straight!"

"Snow?" The green-eyed boy looked confused for a few seconds before jumping up and rushed over to the window. True to Ron's word, it looked like it had snowed for a week but oddly enough it wasn't currently snowing. The sky was overcast, giving a since that the white stuff had just dropped from the sky all at once. "Blimey. But it doesn't look like practice is going to be cancelled."

"What? It's Baltic out there and _you_ still want to run practice? Mental much, Harry?" The taller boy glared at his friend, half-heartedly punched him in the arm before turning away from the window. "Hurry up! Everyone else has already gone to breakfast and _you're_ not even dressed yet!"

Harry groaned and rushed over to his trunk, grabbing a set of clean robes he began to go through his morning routine in a fast pace. But the thought of the snow was fresh on his mind, reminding him of the letter he had gotten the day before with the orange colored present. The teen had been so confused by it that he'd committed it to memory with as much as he had read it the night before:

_To: Harry Potter_

_Second one down, Fifteen to go;_

_Who would have known, it would be so slow._

_Through your break, I hope you stay;_

_If not, these words I will use to sway._

_As a fresh blanket, of snow falls tonight;_

_Dreams of family, will keep your heart bright._

_From: _

First off, Harry had no intention of leaving Hogwarts for the Dursleys' voluntarily. He would rather parade around the Slytherin common-room naked then go to the Dursleys' during his holiday away from them. He took the choice of being in school, practically by himself, for five weeks rather then have to suffer the abuse that he would face going back to his so-called family home.

But the person that sent him these letters didn't know that; Hermione and Ron barely knew about it! Both of them could probably guess what he went through while he stayed there over the summers, but they didn't know the full extent. And they would never know. Besides, he was of legal wizard age now and would no longer, after this point, _ever_ go back to live with them. Harry was free of them just as much as they were free of him.

Second, this person didn't exactly have to be psychic to know that it would snow last night, but it still didn't make it any less creepy that they mentioned it and it happened.

Third, why, out of all the things to say, would they mention his family? It hurt to even skirt around thinking of them! He turned seventeen before the start of the school term and had received two letters from the wizarding bank. One was the contract to the Potter estate that he had inherited upon his birthday: two mansions, a beach house, a cabin, and eight vaults filled with galleons. The second had been for the Black estate that Sirius had left in his name: one mansion, Grimmauld Place, a magical motorcycle, and five vaults filled with galleons.

Harry had cried his eyes out for practically three days. Having to wear a glamour to hide the evidence and even putting up silencing charms around his bed so that no one in the dorm could hear him sob. He hadn't really had the chance to mourn any of their deaths, so it helped; but he still wasn't ready to think of them and not feel the immense hole in his heart throb.

So he didn't see how dreams of his family would make his heart bright.

Because they were just gone, and he had been able to do nothing about it. He didn't remember his parents at all, so it really only hurt that he never got to know them. But when Sirius had came into his life...

Harry choked back a sob and furiously wiped away the few stray tears that had made their way down his cheeks, clearing his glasses of the slight fog. "Come on, Potter. Don't do this now."

Straightening his robes he made sure that his hair was extra messy so that it would just look like he was tired and had not actually been crying.

* * *

When he got down to the Great Hall, Harry noticed that a few groups of people were already leaving breakfast for class. Rushing in, he found a familiar white owl flying towards him and landing on his shoulder, pulling at his hair with a few good yanks.

The teen chuckled, petting Hedwig's feathers lightly while he headed over to where his friends were seated, "Sorry girl, I got a little distracted."

She snapped at his fingers before tugging on his hair again. Harry grabbed a few pieces of bacon before he even took his seat and held them out to his moody owl, which she ate quickly before flying off.

Plopping into the seat next to Hermione, he found a plate already fixed for him and dug in. He didn't stop stuffing his face until a familiar looking envelope was set propped against his pumpkin juice. Harry glanced at Hermione before nodding his thanks and taking it and gingerly setting it into his pocket. The green-eyed teen still hadn't figure out how he was going to make time to find the gift, but decided that he would have time to think about it after he had actually had a chance to read what that riddle was. Because it really came down to how hard the person decided to make him work.

"Let's go, Hare. Don't want to be late for Potions."

Harry glared, grabbing a piece of toast, "For the road."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, Hare-bear."

* * *

"Did you see how angry Snape was? Swear I thought he was going to blow!"

"What a brilliant sight that would have been!"

"I feel bad for Ron though, s'not his fault his wand fell out his pocket!"

"And what about Snape? The greasy-git(1) had said that there weren't going to be any more potions being made after the final! And what's he do? Gobsmacks(2) us with one!"

"I think those Slytherins had it coming though! You see the looks on their faces?"

Harry managed to block the rest of the conversation out. He honestly didn't know that someone could be so clumsy to let his wand fall out of his pocket, slip on it, and knock over their potion onto the students in front of them. Personally, the teen believed that there might have been some foul play in the matter but he couldn't tell with all the commotion.

Snape had gotten mad though; cancelling the rest of class and rushing the two students to the nurse, with Ron following close behind. His friend may be in some trouble, but there couldn't be much done when it was clearly an accident; even with some pushing on Snape's part.

"Hare?"

The teen glanced to his right and found Hermione walking beside him, she was smiling as if she had a secret and was willing to share with him if he shared something with her. He sighed slightly; resigning himself to the fact that she was the only girl he would do anything for; even if it meant sharing his thoughts, which he hated the most because his thoughts were his own and no one had claim over them but himself. "Yes, Mione?"

Her smile widened and she linked her arm with his. "Well, Hare-bear—"

_Oh-ho! You sly little thing._

"You do know that you've spaced-out and not realized that it was a few minutes passed 12:00?"

Harry froze and looked at the bushy-haired girl standing next to him, looking smug as a cat that just finished stealing cream while tapping her watch. _You did that on purpose! Tricking me into thinking you wanted something!_

Fishing the envelope from his pocket, he opened it hastily and felt Hermione lean into him so that she could see what was written better. _So you're after the riddle._ Turning his green gaze back to the parchment paper he read the writing carefully:

_To: Harry Potter_

_With golden wrappings, to rival the sun;_

_It would be a wonder, if you could not find this one,_

_Like a star with a Christmas tree;_

_This present belongs with thee._

_Though, a warning I must implore;_

_Forbidden this place is to explore._

_Close to a friend, close to the heart;_

_It will be found, near the start._

_From: _

"Their obviously talking about the Forbidden Forest," the girl gingerly took the paper from his hand so that she could examine it closer, but for other reasons than to figure out the riddle. _This hand-writing looks so familiar, now that I have a chance to examine it closer. I could probably narrow it down... Hmm, it doesn't belong to any of the professors, nor does it belong to anyone in our year—._

"What do you mean 'obviously'?" Harry interrupted Hermione's thoughts, giving her a confused but interested look.

The bushy-haired teen sighed heavily before pulling lightly on her friend's arm, ushering him into motion towards the Great Hall. "They wrote 'Forbidden'. There are a number of places on the school grounds that are off-limits to students. Harry, we know that! In fact, we have been to _most_ of them! But that's the thing; I can tell that the person that writes these riddles knows a lot about you; about your friends." She smiled as they walked through the threshold of the dining-hall, neither noticing the stares or whispers that continued even as they sat down next to each other.

"You see here," Hermione pointed out the line she was talking about, "the 'Christmas tree' line is completely out of place."

"So," Harry paused, his eyebrows coming together in deep thought, "you're saying that it didn't have to be put there. They put it there on purpose?"

"Yes. They used 'Christmas tree' to help guide us to the Forbidden Forest; and more than likely, your present is going to be at the top of one of the trees in the forest." The girl smiled before pouring some pumpkin juice into her cup and taking a sip. Hermione believed that she had explained it enough that Harry would understand, but when she glanced back over at him he was lost in thought. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Why 'Christmas tree' though? How does that give you the impression that the gift would be at the top of a tree in the Forbidden Forest? I mean," the green-eyed teen raised his hand to stop his friend from any sudden interjections. "I understand where you were getting that the present could be at the top of a tree. That actually makes sense to me. But what makes you think that a 'Christmas tree' is anything like the trees in the forest?"

"Hare-bear, honestly. Most of the trees in the Forbidden Forest are evergreen trees, and many evergreen trees are used as—"

"Christmas trees, got it." Harry sighed and rested his head to his half-empty plate, not even realizing that he had been stress eating while Hermione was talking. "So they wrapped the present in gold paper and stated 'star' to reflect where they were going to place it; being at the top of a tree in the Forbidden Forest. What about the last two lines? Does it narrow the field any?"

"'Close to a friend, close to the heart; It will be found near the start.'" The bushy-haired girl set the riddle down for a second before looking at the page again, "Is there a trail through the Forbidden Forest?"

"No, there shouldn't be one. That's would be like a flashing sign to anything in that place saying, 'Please eat me!' about any poor bloke walking on that. But if anyone should know about something like that it's Hagrid." The teen pushed the leftover food around his plate for a few minutes before something clicked in his mind. "Wait, Hagrid is our friend—."

"Yes, Hare, Hagrid is our friend."

"No! That's not what I meant!" Harry reached over and took the page from the bushy-haired girl's hand, "'Close to a friend, close to the heart', their talking about Hagrid! I care very much about Hagrid, lots of people know that. And he's practically the only one we know with constant and close contact with the Forbidden Forest. I think the person is saying that the present is going to be close to the person that is close my heart; so it'll be at one of the trees near his house."

"That's great, Hare-bear! I'll go with you after class. We could even ask Hagrid for a little help, if we need it." Hermione's smile faded after she noticed the look on her friend's face, "What? What's wrong?"

"Mione, I got to be at practice today."

There was a silence between the two for a few minutes, groups of students from all house tables finishing off their lunches and began to head off to class.

"I'll come to practice today, and we'll try to figure it out from there."

* * *

It wasn't as cold as the Gryffindor house Quidditch players had hoped it would be. Practice was still on as long as they had day light, minimal crosswinds, and no snow. All were accounted for, making all the players spirits dampen slightly. It was so close to the break that no one seemed to be able to focus about anything anymore, probably why some of the professors moved their tests up. In attempt to increase test grades by eliminating the slack factor that came in the last week before break.

But what most of the players had in the fore-front of their mind was the prediction that had spread quickly over the school, given by their very own captain in Divination the day before. What was the point of practicing for a game that was going to be cancelled?

"Come on, Ginny! Get closer to the broom than that!"

But their captain didn't seem fazed by it. Then again, why would he when he had just acquired a new girlfriend? Ah, the Rumor-Mill at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was alive and kicking.

The youngest Weasley suddenly flew over to the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, "Harry, I need a break, in fact, the entire team needs a break."

The green-eyed teen nodded, "Alright, Seeker Challenge Break."

"One minute!" Ron, now the leading keeper of the team, shouted from not too far off. Other players began to gather and hover in the same place, getting comfortable for their short break; because no matter how long a delay that they required their captain to wait before going off after the snitch, he came back in less than ten minutes.

Harry nodded in agreement, watching as Ginny opened her hand and let go of the snitch she had caught not too long ago, which stayed for a few seconds before shooting off. Green-eyes followed its movement carefully, not paying attention to the time, knowing someone else was keeping it. Off in the distance, the teen watched as the snitch hovered and moved in a crossing pattern before disappearing around the spectator's stands.

"Ten seconds!"

Carding his hand through his unruly, dark locks quickly before readying his position on his broom. His eyes never moving from the spot he saw the snitch disappear.

"Five."

Harry took in a deep breath...

"Four."

getting close to his broom...

"Three."

holding the air in his lungs...

"Two."

before releasing it...

"ONE!"

and shot off after the golden sphere.

It didn't take him long to reach the spectator tower that the snitch disappeared behind; quickly catching sight of it before it zipped away, weaving between the spectator towers with the green-eyed boy right on its trail.

As the teen swerved, dodged, and spiraled after the little flying ball, he felt an unexplainable feeling of love and freedom. At some point after Harry was lead away from the Quidditch field (without his notice), he understood was what was happening almost immediately. The snitch was giving him a gift. The gift of what Harry truly wanted. He understood that as soon as he spotted the snitch hovering right next to it, innocently flying in an 'X' like pattern in front of the golden box, as if saying 'X marks the spot.'

The green-eyed teen slowed and stopped right in front of the flat, but large and beautifully decorated box. No longer looking at the snitch. "I never did understand you." Harry ran a gloved hand over the golden wrappings of the box, carefully tracing the ribbon that elegantly finished the detailing. "To rival the sun, indeed." The teen turned a smile towards the flying sphere, "Thank you."

* * *

When Harry had gotten back from his Seeker Challenge Break, Hermione had been extremely surprised to see _what_ he came back carrying instead of the snitch. The girl turned he gaze to the box sitting next to her. It was magnificently decorated; she had to give that to the person that was doing this for Harry. The whole affair had put such a light in her friend's eyes that she had never seen before, causing her to only be a little sad over the one thing that was basically giving Hermione's 'Hare-bear' a reason to get out of bed these days.

"What's in the box?"

The bushy-haired girl barely held in a gasp as she jerked to face Zacharias Smith, the one student in the entire school that she believed fit in no house at all. But she had learned, in her previous years of dealing with the boy, that even though he was annoying almost all the time he was oddly very observant. The girl ignored his question though, simply turning back to the Quidditch practice before her, "What are you doing here, Smith?"

"Here to check out the competition. Hufflepuff'll be playing the winner of this week's Slytherin-Gryffindor match after the break." The dirty-blond boy made himself comfortable by slamming his feet down onto the bench Hermione was sitting on, dangerously close to the present sitting next to her. "So, who's the present for? Harry Potter, the captain-seeker of Gryffindor Quidditch team? Or Ron Weasley, the misplaced keeper?"

Unfortunately for him, that was the wrong thing to say, he only realizing it _after_ he found the tip of the bushy-haired girl's wand in his throat. "You will take that back you gormless(3)-nosey-prat(4), or I swear on Merlin's grave you _will_ regret it!"

The Hufflepuff shook uncontrollably in fright, his mouth opening in closing as he tried to get words out and only succeeding in stutters of syllables that made no sense. When he failed to coherently make a single word he nodded furiously until Hermione turned back around and say once more, going on to ignore his existence.

But maybe that was a lack in the girl's judgment, because next thing she knew Smith went flying past her and onto the Quidditch field before swerving off and heading back to the castle... with Harry's present in his arms.

Taking a quick glance at the seat next to her, the bushy-haired girl cursed and jumped up from her seat, running over to the back railing. Hermione watched as the blond took his time flying back to the school, tossing Harry's gift into the air and let it drop when it slipped through his fingers before diving to rescue it.

Hermione gasped and ran back to the ledge of the spectator's stand that was closest to the field, "Harry! Harry! Zacharias Smith stole your present!"

Everyone in practice stopped and turned towards her. She pointed in the direction that the Hufflepuff was going, not missing the speeding form of the Gryffindor house Quidditch captain flying towards the very direction she pointed out.

* * *

"Smith!"

The blond heard the enraged voice of the person he had been waiting for before he shot off. He knew that he wouldn't win in a flying match against Harry Potter, so he had to think fast on what he was going to do; and it didn't take long when his eyes landed on a tree that seemed like a perfect solution. Flying in close, Zach dropped the gold wrapped present down through the branches of the Whomping Willow before coming to a stop not too far off. "Oops! Slippery fingers!"

Harry stopped before reaching the tree, staring through the bare branches and at the flat, golden box resting in the upraised roots of the tree.

"Well, have fun!" Smith flew off, feeling on top of the world as he headed back to the school ready for a good meal.

The green-eyed boy continued to sit there flying on his broom until he heard voices call to him from below, so he descended to the ground as he stared at his present, his gift.

"I'm gonna kill that arsehole(5)!"

"I can't believe that he might be related to Helga Hufflepuff!"

"Well, _I_ can't believe that he is a Hufflepuff!"

"Slytherin is more like it!"

"Bloody prat! Who does he think he is? Malfoy?"

"Malfoy, as much as I dislike the git, wouldn't do something like this." Hermione walked over to Harry's side and placed a hand on his arm, noticing Ron came up on the other side of their friend and did the same to their friend's shoulder. "I was the one that made him mad, Harry. So—."

"If it had been Malfoy, he would have gone after you." The teen sighed before shaking his head. "Let's stop talking about Ice-Prince of Slytherin. He's done practically nothing to bother us this year."

"Mate, me and the team are ready to go hex Smith into not breathing." Ron tightened his grip on his friend's shoulder, "Just give us a 'Go', and we'll do it."

Harry shook his head, "Leave him alone. He'll get his when the time comes, happens to all cowards."

"Think that'll happen to Malfoy?"

"Ronald, stop! Hare is right when he said that Malfoy has left us alone for the whole term, now let us return the favor and _not_ talk ill of him behind his back." Hermione scolded the red-haired, who only pouted in response.

"But it makes things less droll that way!" This caused the Gryffindors to share a few laughs and chuckles, knowing the keeper was jesting and would end up not talking about the Slytherin again.

The green-eyed boy even spared a smile before he ventured closer to the tree, Ron hanging back while Hermione continued to stick to his side.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." Harry whined and stared longingly at the innocently glittering gold wrappings of his next present.

"Me neither." Hermione said simply.

"I don't want to do this!" The boy let out another whine as they both moved slightly closer to their destination.

"Well, if you want it you're going to have to." The bushy-haired girl shrugged, silently worrying over her friend as he fidgeted back and forth.

"I want it," Harry said jabbing his finger toward the flattish box before waving his arm across the whole scene of _where_ the box had been settled, "but not this."

"All or nothing, Hare-bear."

"Could you not call me that?" The green-eyed teen pouted, while carding both of his hands through his messy hair.

"You're the one acting like a child."

"I'm sorry that I don't want to act like an adult when the present that is supposed to be my hands, is under the Whomping Willow!"

Hermione gave her friend a crooked smile before stopping from going further, knowing that Harry wouldn't want her to. Ron walked up next to her, wrapping an arm around her and lent her his shoulder to hide her eyes as their friend went after his present. They both would have been more worried, but they had all faced this tree before and had conquered it each time; to them, today it was no different.

It took a good half hour, in which all of the team stayed and watched as their captain got closer and closer to his target before having to back out. He took a break only once, but it didn't last long. By the end of it, present in hand, Harry was out with broken glasses, torn Quidditch uniform, a few cuts, and bruised ribs. The box itself seemed to be unharmed, which the green-eyed boy was grateful for.

* * *

"Madam Pomfrey said that his ribs would be almost completely healed by morning, and the cut under his eye would be healed by that time too."

"Mione! Quit talking around me! I'm right here!" Harry groaned and tried not to move from his slouched position on the couch in the Gryffindor common-room.

"Sorry, Hare-bear!"

"Don't call me that, Ronnicklekins!"

"Both of you stop! I believe we _all_ have had enough excitement for today." Hermione sighed as she sipped lightly on her hot-chocolate, getting ready to enjoy the silence that was spreading over the common-room.

That was until the portrait opened and Seamus came running into the room, "Zacharias Smith just got sent to the hospital wing!"

"What?" All three of the Gryffindors sitting in the room asked all at once, turning their attention towards their friend.

"Yeah, it happened outside of the Great Hall after dinner ended!" The boy came and sat on the same couch as Harry, mindful of not dropping on it so his friend wouldn't bounce around. "Apparently, he bumped into some Slytherins, who were already in a foul mood for some reason, and he called Pansy Parkinson a munter(6), then compared Draco Malfoy's mother to a trollop(7)! Snape had witnessed the entire thing, so Dumbledore was soft on their punishments; but Smith is in the hospital wing because he got hexed something funny."

"You mean 'something terrible'," the bushy-haired girl half-heartedly corrected Seamus, pretty much shocked over the situation.

"No, I didn't." The boy said simply, leaning back against the couch before breaking out into laughter the same time as the other three did.

"Told you, all cowards get what's coming to them!"

The laughing continued, light chatting awhile after that before Ron and Seamus turned in for the night. Harry didn't move but knew he would have to soon because his eyes had already grown so heavy they were closed. He felt someone sit on the couch next to him and turned towards them, peeking out through tired green eyes. "Hi."

Hermione smiled, "Hey." She didn't say anything else for a few seconds before she sighed, "What are you going to do about the letter Harry?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders a bit, turning to stare at the wall in front of him, "It's lost, there's nothing I can do about it. I may have gotten the present in the end, but Smith won by taking that away."

"Maybe we'll be able to find it tomorrow?"

"Maybe, Mione, maybe. I've still got a lot of questions on my mind about this mystery sender."

* * *

**A/N:**

Oh, no! Harry didn't get his envelope from today's present! Stupid Zacharias Smith!

Hmm… Well, this was an interesting chapter! See you guys later!

On to the fun stuff!

* * *

**Learning the Meanings:** British Words

Arsehole- asshole

Git- (not an easy one to lay one word with) an insult that hints to a bit of jealousy

Gobsmack- surprise

Gormless- lack of common sense

Munter- an unattractive woman

Prat- (in the basic sense) idiot

Trollop- a woman with loose morals

* * *

**Next Time On:** Until Christmas

"Harry."

The green-eyed boy walked on through the desks, continuing to ignore his red-headed friend. He was in a bit of a foul mood and he didn't feel like dealing with his friend's humor right this second.

"Harry!"

"What, Ron?" He asked in an annoyed tone, taking his seat before facing his friend who sat down next to him but wasn't looking at him.

"Pansy Parkinson is walking our way." Ron whispered, not even bothering to point in her direction as she stepped in front of the two Gryffindors.

Harry stared at the girl, looking between her and Ron a few times before resting his eyes on the Slytherin, "What do you want, Parkinson?"

"Merlin, help me. I cannot believe I'm actually going to talk to a Gryffindor," she sighed before pulling a _very_ familiar looking envelope out of her pocket, holding it out for the teen to take. "This belongs to you, Potter. I came to deliver it."

The green-eyed teen stared at it for a few seconds, gobsmacked practically into silence that _Pansy Parkinson_ had his letter. It could only mean one thing. "_You're_ the one that's been sending me those presents?"

* * *

**A/N:**

Oh, ho! A terrible twist indeed!

That's all for right now! Chapter four will be up shortly!

—UrGayLuvr


	4. Bath Time

**A/N:**

Hey people! I want to say thanks to the few people that have reviews so far! I appreciate the fact that _anyone_ would comment!

A special thanks to LadyGryffindor, who pointed out exactly what I wanted someone to do! Thanks, milady.

To all of you that read and do not comment, I have once again cut down the possible people that could be Harry's gift-given. Hermione has even named him: Hare-bear's Secret Santa!

OH! Sorry, final thing I promise! There's going to be a bath scene between our two favorite boys (at least mine)! And you people _might_ want to reading the Warnings below to see what's been changed!

Have fun and enjoy!

-UrGayLuvr

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

* * *

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 4: **Bath Time

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, _**and**_ M/M relations (No longer in debate, its happening).

* * *

December 11, 1997

Green eyes stared blankly down at the text book placed on the desk, a fourteen inch parchment more than half-way filled with notes. Today their professor had not shown up for class today, Snape had walked in and said that he would be taking their professor's place because he was sick. Harry knew better though.

_The full-moon is Sunday, yet Remus is already feeling the effects? It's only Thursday!_ The teen chewed on the tip of his feather quill, knowing that he wouldn't be allowed to see his god-father if his were-wolf was already starting to have effect on him. He debated on going to talk to Dumbledore. Lately the older wizard had started acting weird towards the teen, but Harry couldn't figure out just what the difference meant. Or even _how_ the Headmaster's behavior was different.

The green-eyed teen took a quick glance at the dark Potions professor, wondering if he should even try to attempt to talk to the man. The refusal to talk to the man was the thought that followed the first, but the worry for Remus over shadowed that. _I'll ask him after class._

Harry's thoughts were brought back to the envelope. He sighed and bent back over his text book, continuing on with his notes. Thanks to Zacharias Smith, he had lost the envelope that had been attached to the gift the snitch had led him to yesterday. The teen was sad that he didn't get the chance to read it like the others. Hermione had even stated that if he thought about the letter too long, he might over romanticize it.

But the teen had just rolled his eyes at his friend. He trusted that she made great observations, he just didn't believe that he could over romanticize something that was written by someone who showed no more than a friendly tone; not even hinting at holding deeper feelings.

Dropping his head close to his desk, making it seem as if he was concentrating on reading, Harry squeezed his eyes shut. The envelope that he had gotten this morning was burning a hole in his mind, it took nearly all his will power to not reach down and check to make sure that the parchment was still safely tucked away into the inner pocket of his robe. He'd become overly protective of the delivery ever since Hedwig had dropping it into his hand. He was still an entire period from being able to open it, but he found himself too impatient to want to wait.

And he wasn't even sure if it was over the mystery, getting the present, or making up for losing one of the letters written to him by reading the one that would be attached to today's present.

"You are dismissed."

Harry sat up from his hunched over position, gathering up his text book with his notes tucked inside the paper he had stopped on before sliding it into his bag. The teen watched the Potions' professor from the corner of his eye, waiting until everyone had left the room. When the last Ravenclaw walked out, the green-eyed boy stood and walked towards Snape.

"What do you want, Potter?" The older man sneered down at him, black eyes staring into his own with a blank look as if searching for some type of weakness.

The teen straightened his shoulders and breathed in deeply, "Remus, is there something wrong with Remus? It's only Thursday but—."

Snape raised a hand, stopping the unruly-haired boy from continuing, "The wolf is just fine." The older man watched as Harry's face relaxed in relief, holding back a disgusted sneer he moved on, "The affect of his instincts are taking effect sooner than before because he needs a mate."

"'A mate'? If that is all, I could—."

"Not that type of 'mate', Potter," the Potions' professor interrupted the Gryffindor once more. "He needs someone to mate _with_."

"Oh, he needs a shag."

"A vulgar way to put it, but yes." Snape stepped around the desk and passed the teen, leaving the room without another word.

"Greasy-haired git," Harry muttered before also leaving, heading quickly towards the green houses for his Herbology class.

* * *

The Hufflepuffs had been in a slightly somber but strangely up-beat mood. Harry had found it unusually and it had taken him all class, even into lunch, to figure out why exactly that was.

It wasn't a secret that Zacharias Smith wasn't a well liked person, even among his own house-mates. He didn't really fit in anywhere; but Hufflepuff and willingly taken him in, accepting the fact that he was different from them in a lot of ways. He was rude to a lot of people, a coward, and would leave someone hanging without a second thought.

So when he was put into the hospital wing by Slytherins, the Hufflepuff house didn't know how to react. They were too good-hearted to out-right cheer for the lack of the boy's attendance and still felt sorry for the way he had ended up, but disliked him enough that they were all in cheerier moods.

"Harry! Are you going to show us the letter? Or continue to hide it away as if we were all Smith-copies?" Ron said dejectedly from across the table, his arms crossed over his chest and the once full plate in front of him now empty.

The green-eyed teen finished the food that was in his mouth, try his hardest not to grin at the other boy. He pulled the already open envelope from his pocket and handed over to Hermione, who smiled smugly at the red-head before reading it to herself:

_To: Harry Potter_

_The perfect image of a starry night;_

_Diamonds on wrappings, shining so bright._

_Into the water you must go; _

_But let the warmth fill you, despite the snow._

_Shades of all colors, like the scales upon her tail;_

_A repeated event, in which you will again prevail._

_From:_

"Again with no name?" The bushy-haired girl asked passing the note over to Neville, who was sitting on the other side of Harry.

"Yeah," the teen shrugged, carding a hand through his through his unruly hair. "I think their talking about the lake."

"It would make sense," Neville said before passing the note across the table to Ron, which Dean leaned over Seamus to read. "The 'event' their talking about could mean the task involving the lake during the Triwizard Tournament."

"Though the lake water is _any_ but warm right now; in fact, it's frozen solid!" Hermione shook her head, "Why would this person want Harry to risk his life for a present by going into Hogwarts' Lake at this time of year? Why didn't he pick a less harmless place?"

"And what's with the 'her tail'? Not all merpeople are girls, and they certainly are not colorful." Dean said moving out of Seamus' lap and into his own seat, going back to eating his lunch.

Ron looked down at the note for a few more minutes before handing the note back to Harry, "The prat is starting to make less sense anyways! Using 'prefect' where it doesn't make any sense!"

Hermione stared at the red-head for a few seconds before glancing at the riddle in Harry's hand, "Ron that says 'perfect' not 'prefect'."

The teen blushed and turned his blue eyes away from the group, ignoring the looks of amusement on their faces, "O-of course it does! I was just joking!"

The group of teens laughed before all going to back to little conversations about the riddle, all of them lead back to the fact that the present was in the Hogwarts Lake.

Harry stared at his letter a few more moments, seeing that 'warmth, 'all colors', and 'her tail' were throwing his theory was off. Slipping the riddle and its envelope back into his pocket, the teen went back to eating a few more bits of food before making his departure with Hermione to Divination.

* * *

Ron stared at Harry's prone form for a long time, deciding that he should at least try to help his friend out. Chunking a pillow at his head, he found himself being glared at by grass-green eyes, a glare that he returned with his own sky-blue eyes.

"Why aren't you going after that present?"

His friend turned his gaze away, sighing heavily, "I've looked along the lake, trying to at the very least find a clue to lead me to where the present might be... But I came up with nothing!" The teen groaned frustrated, "I know that there is something I'm missing! Something I'm looking over! But I can't bloody figure out _what_ it is!"

The red-head stayed slightly after that, thinking about how he could help his friend. There was only one thing that he came up with though, no matter how he tried to think differently, "Why don't you look at the riddle again?"

"Ron!" Harry sat up and gave his friend a look, his voice having a hint of a whine to it. "I've looked at that thing so many times I've memorized it! I don't need to look at it anymore!" The teen flopped back down onto the couch, curling into himself slightly.

"It couldn't hurt," the blue-eyed boy pointed out, while shrugging.

"'To: Harry Potter'," the teen laying on the couch started.

"Come on, mate. Don't be like that."

Both teens sighed at the same time, causing them to laugh at each other, "Alright, alright. I suppose it couldn't hurt to look. But the no matter how I look at it, the same things bother me about it."

"What's that?" Ron asked interested, leaning back into his own chair and put his feet up on the table.

"Well, the 'let the warmth fill you' and the 'shades of all colors, like the scales upon her tail', both of those lines have got me lost." Harry stretched his arms above his head and crossed his ankles on the arm-rest. "All the other clues seem to lead to the lake, but those two throw things off."

Silence fell over the two, the red-head so deep in thought that the other teen thought he had fallen asleep until he spoke. "The Prefects' bathroom."

"Again with 'prefect', Ron? It says—."

"I know, I know. Just listen," the red-haired teen sat up from his slouched position, removing his feet from the table so that he could lean towards his friend. "It sounds a little like the Prefects' bathroom, if you ask me. The water is warm and you can have all types of colored water, soaps, and bubbles. Plus, maybe they weren't talking about just any old mermaid. Maybe they were talking about the stain-glass siren."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking about the riddle in his head before sitting up after a few moments, "Ron, you're a genius! It fits perfectly with the riddle!"

"Bloody brilliant!" The other teen grinned, "Don't forget to wash behind your ears, Hare-bear!"

The green-eyed boy glared at his friend as he stood up and rushed up the stairs to their dorm, shouting over his shoulder with a smile, "Arsehole!"

* * *

On the fifth floor, past four doors and to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered was the Prefects' bathroom; only Prefects, Head Boy and Girl, as well as Quidditch House captains were allowed to use it.

"Pine fresh."

With a bath towel and a change of clothes in hand, Harry had ventured out of the Gryffindor common-room not long after his conversation with Ron. He only had an hour until his Astronomy class began so he was going to get through this as fast as he could. When the entrance didn't open immediately, the teen wondered briefly if the password had changed since he had last come before it swung open.

Stepping in quickly he passed the stalls and walked over to the bath, noticing that the water had already been drawn and had green foam and bubbles floating across the top of the water as well as in the air. It wasn't a horrible shade of green, so Harry didn't mind it so much; the shade actually reminded him of the color of grass at morning twilight. When some of the foam cleared away from a small portion of the water the teen noticed that the color of the water was a silver-grey.

_An odd combination for bath water, but it works._ Harry thought to himself as he looked around the room, figuring that someone else was here to use the bath as well. But he noticed not personal belongings set down anywhere. The teen shrugged, _Someone probably forgot to drain the water._

The green-eyed boy set his clothes down and was about to drain the tub when a sparkle caught his eye, looking across the tub his eyes met a large square box that looked to be wrapped in the night's sky with the stars actually twinkling.

Draining the tub was forgotten and Harry quickly began to strip from his school robes, removing his shoes and socks, loosening his tie and removed it at the same time as his shirt, finally unbuckling his belt to remove both his trousers and boxers. Harry gingerly stepped into the water, finding it not too hot so he emerged himself into the green and silver bath enjoying how the heat worked gently on his muscles. But the teen didn't the thought of the present aside and he carefully swam over to the other side of the tub, noticing that the present was in a Bubble-head like charm. Picking up the sphere from the bottom, the green-eyed teen brought his present back over to where his clothes were lying in a messy heap and set it on top. The charm faded away once it hit the dry clothes, causing the present to drop a few inches and land safely among the clothes.

Harry took a small towel from the pile of clean clothes he had brought and proceeded to dry his hands before he picked up the envelope and opened it, suddenly becoming nervous. _What if they know I lost the letter for yesterday? What if they don't want to continue doing this for me because of it? Merlin, I hope not! It's so much fun being able to go out and find these gifts! I don't know what I would do if they told me that I was irresponsible._

Taking a deep breath to calm himself he slipped the note out of the envelope and read it:

_To: Harry Potter_

_Relax, dear one, do not stress yourself out;_

_You are succeeding quite greatly, that is without a doubt._

_The break grows closer, and your friends will part;_

_But I am not ready to depart._

_My wish is from you a smile; _

_In order to see this, I will stay awhile._

_From: _

The teen found himself staring at the note far longer than he had planned. They knew, the person writing him and giving presents _knew_ that he had lost the note from yesterday! They knew and they weren't mad! In fact, they were concerned that Harry was pressuring himself over it, sending him to the bath to relax.

"Potter, what are _you_ doing here?"

Or curse him. "Not that it's really any of your business, Malfoy. But I'm bathing."

"In the water that I drew for myself to bath in?" The blond walked over to the edge of the bath-tub and stared down at his rival with a small and dampened glare. He had a set of clothes and bath-towels hanging over one arm and a bucket of what Harry thought to be toiletries.

"How was I supposed to know you were the one who drew it? Doesn't have your name on it, Malfoy." The green-eyed boy met silver-grey eyes in an equal glare while setting his envelope off to the side, pulling his legs in from out behind him and turned around to face the stain-glass windows.

The boy missed a blush come up over the blond's pale cheeks from getting a look at Harry's bare bottom. What he didn't miss was the sound of rustling cloth and two long-pale legs step into the water not far from where he sat. Honey-tanned skin lit up in a flush and the figured turned his head away from the other teen who decided to join him in the bath.

The dark-haired boy couldn't figure out why he was blushing so hard. It wasn't as if he hadn't been naked around other boys before. He was on the Quidditch team for Merlin's sake! He had no choice but to be naked around other boys; and Harry _knew_ that he had never felt as nervous, embarrassed, and curious as he did know.

Even when he knew that he was supposed to. Like the time over the summer when he had been allowed to stay over at the Weasley's for a few days and he had accidently walked in on Ginny while she was taking a bath. He blushed of course, though it was more out of embarrassment for walking in on her when he should have knocked and embarrassment _for_ her. But he hadn't blushed over being turned-on by seeing his girlfriend's naked skin; that being the main reason the two had broken up.

Sitting here in the same bath as _Draco Malfoy_, both of them naked as the day they were born and Harry blushing _hot_ in attempt to keep himself from looking over at the blond, the green-eyed boy began to question his sexuality. Not that he really had ever thought of another guy that way, he just figured girls and guys should be together; though he knew that it wasn't unheard of being gay as a wizard, society was quite accepting. In fact, Neville was openly gay and had even dated a boy from Ravenclaw for a short time the year before.

But _Draco Malfoy_, despite the blond leaving him and his friends alone this year, Harry couldn't put the thought of the past completely behind him. The green-eyed teen shook his head free of those thoughts, taking a quick glance at the other boy before returning his gaze to the window.

"I heard what Smith said about your mother yesterday."

Draco stiffened after hearing Potter speak; it nearly took all his will power not to growl and sneer at the thought of the Hufflepuff. He had never liked the house for its soft and pathetically caring ways, but he despised Zacharias Smith even more. The prat didn't fit into any house and only seemed out of place in Hufflepuff, but the silver-eyed boy was glad the other blond hadn't been placed in Slytherin; he was cowardly and greatly annoying. Besides his loathing for the boy, Draco's parents were always a touchy subject with him. And when the boy had rammed into them, insulted his friend, _and_ basically called his mother to a trolloping-whore; it had been like the boy had spat in his face.

"If it's any consolation," Harry stated softly, twirling his thumbs as he took a chance to look the other boy in the eyes, "I've met your mother before and she was very elegant, so lady-like that I thought she would break but had such fire when she was talking with Professor McGonagall. Ah, but I suppose you already knew that, her being your mother and all."

There was a silence between the two, in which time Harry held his gaze with Malfoy as long as he could before turning away in embarrassment. The blond continued to stare at the green-eyed boy though, accessing the look that had been in his eyes as well as his body-language now.

Draco nodded slowly, as if unsure before turning his gaze at the stain-glass windows, "Thank you, Potter. I do know her best, but that type of speech about my mother coming from a _Gryffindor_ does mean something. On a certain level, that is."

"Of course," Harry could only nod and he cleared his throat softly, his blush spreading down to his neck.

Another silence spread out over the two, this one awkward and hanging heavily on both of them.

That was until the blond teen cleared his throat as well, but in preparation to say something.

"So," Draco held onto the word slightly, unsure if it was the right way to continue into small talk with his rival. "What do you plan on doing over the break?"

"Um, well, I was actually planning on staying at Hogwarts." Harry shrugged and smiled, remembering the letter he had gotten a few days ago when his mystery 'gift-giver' had wondered if he had been planning to stay. "How about you? Going home to see your parents?"

"No," the Slytherin said rather tightly, "mother and father do not want me home this holiday. They said with the sudden disappearance of You-Know-Who, that it would be best if I stayed at Hogwarts over the break."

"Shame, you should really get the chance to spend Christmas with your parents." The green-eyed teen stated grimly, leaning back into the side of the bath and kicked his feet slightly.

"They said that they would visit in less than a fortnight(1), so I don't mind." Draco looked at the other boy from the corner of his eyes, "What about you? Do you not want to go home to spend the break with your family and open presents with them on Christmas?"

Harry snorted and stuck up his nose, "I don't get presents from them. My aunt and uncle spend all their time and money making sure that _Dudley_ gets everything he wants, as well as getting him more presents from the year before; be it Christmas or his birthday. _My present_ is cleaning up after the mess and seeing almost every single one of those gifts broken and thrown into _my_ room a few days to a few weeks afterwards."

"What?" Draco asked shocked, turning his head towards the green-eyed boy sitting next to him. Silver-grey eyes watched as Potter stiffened and sit up.

_I didn't just say that out loud!_ Harry stood up suddenly, jumping out of the bath and grabbing his towel.

The blond watched for a few seconds before he noticed that he was staring at _Harry Potter's_ arse. He immediately turned away and listened as the other teen quickly dried off and clothed himself, grabbing his stuff before leaving the Prefects' bathroom without looking back. Draco was left looking at the spot that the boy had been sitting in beside him, wondering, _He doesn't get presents from his family? Has he even ever gotten a present before?_

* * *

The teen couldn't believe it. He had revealed one of the most private things about his 'home' life to _Draco Malfoy_! On his way up to Astronomy with Ron, Harry was beginning to realize just how _easy_ if was to talk to the blond, but he didn't need to go revealing something as blatant as him not receiving gifts in his own 'home'!

"Harry."

The green-eyed boy walked on through the desks, continuing to ignore his red-headed friend. He was in a bit of a foul mood and he didn't feel like dealing with his friend's humor right this second.

"Harry!"

"What, Ron?" He asked in an annoyed tone, taking his seat before facing his friend who sat down next to him but wasn't looking at him.

"Pansy Parkinson is walking our way." Ron whispered, not even bothering to point in her direction as she stepped in front of the two Gryffindors.

Harry stared at the girl, looking between her and Ron a few times before resting his eyes on the Slytherin, "What do you want, Parkinson?"

"Merlin, help me. I cannot believe I'm actually going to talk to a Gryffindor," she sighed before pulling a _very_ familiar looking envelope out of her pocket, holding it out for the teen to take. "This belongs to you, Potter. I came to deliver it."

The green-eyed teen stared at it for a few seconds, gobsmacked practically into silence that _Pansy Parkinson_ had his letter. It could only mean one thing. "_You're_ the one that's been sending me those presents?"

"What? Of course not, Potter! I can barely _stand_ talking to you and you suggest that I am sending you presents? Mental(2) much? Vince and Greg found that while they were eating outside today. You're name was on the inside, so I thought it would be a _nice_ gesture to return it to you." The dark-haired Slytherin turned from the two Gryffindors, to walking over to her normal group of friends that consisted of Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. But she stopped and turned back toward the two, catching the green-eyed boy's gaze, "Personally, Potter. If that person ever reveals themself to you, do not pass up the chance of getting with them. I would be a bloody shame."

Before Harry could ask was Parkinson meant by that she walked over to her friends and the professor told the class to find their seats quickly. Glancing quickly at Ron, who only shrugged, the teen hid his letter behind his text-book, pulling out the note from the already opened envelope. Reading it without notice or letting his friend see it:

_To: Harry Potter_

_Aloud—it is hard, on paper—easier to say;_

_My feelings for you are difficult to convey._

_One minute I am jealous, bitter, and sad;_

_Another I am proud, joyous, and glad._

_You are beautiful, strong, and unusually unique;_

_I am becoming breathless as we speak._

_Am I in love with you?_

_Are you, strangely, growing feelings for me too?_

_From: _

The teen didn't realize what he was doing until he saw water droplets on his hands. Harry looked puzzled at his hand and felt something slip from his cheek when he bent his head forward. Touching his cheek he finally took notice to the fact that he was crying, and that only caused him to cry more. He choked back a sob, making Ron and a Ravenclaw sitting beside him jump slightly.

But the green-eyed boy didn't wait for them to ask if he was okay. Putting the letter into his book and gathering his bag he stood up from his seat, moving behind his friend and stepped away from the desks. He now had the entire class' full attention, which he ignored as he fled the room and quickly made his way out of the tower.

Tears continued to fall from his eyes and his sobs were quieted by his sleeve that he had pressed against his mouth. Knowing that if Professor Sinistra wasn't chasing him, Ron would be soon; there was only one place that Harry could go.

* * *

"Its okay, Hare-bear. You can stay here with me tonight if you would like."

Hermione shushed her friend gently as she softly petted his hair and if he had been leaning on her shoulder she would have been rocking him as well. But since he had busted into the Head Boy and Girl common-room, eyes puffy and red from crying, the bushy-haired girl hand only gotten pieces of the story of why he was crying and had lead him into her private room, where he now lay on her bed still crying.

After awhile she began to understand that he wasn't just crying over the letter that he had received today, but over many things: his parents' and Sirius' deaths, the letters he had received for their estates, Remus being affected by the moon, the lack of love over his life, and this 'gift-giver' that might have feelings for him.

She sighed softly and rubbed Harry's back as he began to calm down a bit, it surprise and shocked her that her friend had been brought to such a state. _Now probably wouldn't be the right time to tell him that his 'Secret Santa' is not a Professor or anyone from our year in Gryffindor._

* * *

**A/N:**

What? Hermione's interrupted thought from the chapter before has been finished? Oh, man!

I know! I'm a bloody tease! Well, guess that leaves a whole lot of students for Mione to narrow down, doesn't it?

Onto the fun-stuff!

* * *

**Learning the Meanings:** British Words

Fortnight- two weeks, fourteen days

Mental- crazy

* * *

**Blooper:**

The green-eyed teen stared at it for a few seconds, gobsmacked practically into silence that _Pansy Parkinson_ had his letter. It could only mean one thing. "_You're_ the one that's been sending me those presents?"

"What? Of course not, Potter! I can barely _stand_ talking to you and you suggest—Okay, I can't do this!" Pansy said taking a step away from Harry.

"What now?"

"How I am I suppose to just stand here, chit-chat with Harry, and then give him _advice_ after he just spent half an hour naked in the bath with my ex-boyfriend who I have to sit next to after this?" She crossed her arms and glared at the producer.

"You aren't supposed to _know_ that Draco and Harry were in the bath together! Besides, it isn't as if they had sex!"

She snorted, "That was caught no film, yes."

"Ah! My ears!" The producer screamed, covering his ears.

"We did not shag!" Both boys yelled at the same time.

"As of yet." Pansy retorted, looking at her nails.

"My bleeding ears!"

* * *

**Next Time On:** Until Christmas

"Good morning, Potter."

"Good morning, Malfoy."

There was a long awkward silence, in which the two looked everywhere but at that other boy, things still clearly odd between the two.

"So, where is Granger?" Draco asked looking around the room as if looking for the Head Girl.

"In her room still," Harry fidgeted and shifted where he sat on the bed.

"Ah, does she need to be knocked up?" The blond asked, walking passed the dark-haired boy while straightening his green silk morning robe.

"In the American or British sense?"

The Slytherin let out a bark of laughter before fixing his mask back into place with only a small smirk showing his amusement, "Whichever sense you want, as long as _you_ are doing it."

Harry smiled and shook his head, "I'll leave that up to her future husband."

"What? Waking her up or impregnating her?"

The green-eyed teen looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, "Both I suppose, but I'll wake her up today."

* * *

**A/N:**

I don't know what's worth mention first! The fact that Harry was sitting on a bed and Draco is only wearing a night robe, or that 'knocking up' in British English means something completely different in American English…

Well I guess _that_ decided that.

Like I said, I'm a tease!

But seriously, people. I hope ya'll enjoyed it!

—UrGayLuvr


	5. Locked Up

**A/N:**

Thank you so much to those of you that reviewed! It means a lot! And the fact that I got three reviews for one chapter rocks! Go me and my first HP fan-fic!

On with the story!

Enjoy!

-UrGayLuvr

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 1

* * *

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 5: **Locked Up

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, M/M relations (No longer in debate, it's happening), _**and**_ attempted _**RAPE**_ (got to put that in there now… le sigh).

* * *

December 12, 1997

When Harry Potter had woken up, he was confused as to why he was staring up at a ceiling that was half emerald green with silver-grey scrolling, while the opposite side had burgundy red with golden scrolling.

Turning his eyes to look around the room he found the theme was exactly alike in the décor of the rest of the room, at least what he could make out from his blurry vision. Blinking a few times the teen waited for his eyes to adjust then laughed as he remembered that he wasn't wearing his glasses.

The green-eyed teen yawned and stretched before sitting up, squinting as he tried to locate his glasses, which he found laying on a coffee table that was pulled close to the bed he was in. Harry quickly placed them on the bridge of his nose so that he could fully take in his surroundings.

Like the ceiling both sides of the room were completely identical in objects and furniture, but one wall was marked with the Slytherin house crest and decorated with the trademark colors, the other wall held the Gryffindor house crest and decorated in the same colors as the ones he knew from the tower common-room. The only other major thing that the teen noticed as different between the two halves of the room were the two portraits of Godric Gryffindor, which lead to the Head Girl's room, and Salazar Slytherin, which lead to the Head Boy's room. The bed that Harry was laying on had been transfigured the night before from two sitting chairs within the common-room, half of the bed being red with golden lions and the other green with silver snakes.

Harry's face lit up in embarrassment, he hadn't meant to break-down the way he had last night and would probably receive strange looks all day long, as he was sure the rumors had already spread between people. Since Astronomy was the only all-house diversified class that the teen had, he was positive that the entire school knew about his little episode.

_Haha! I cannot believe that I cried in public! In class!... Merlin... In front of Slytherins!_, Harry thought, the last part echoing back and forth through his mind. The teen groaned as he turned onto his side to glare at the green and grey crest on the wall, "I don't know if I want to go to classes today knowing that I will just be constantly heckled by Slytherins."

"So we Slytherins _do_ make you consider not getting out of bed in the morning. I was beginning to wonder," a silky-smooth voice said coolly, not too far from where Harry was.

Shooting up from his position, the green-eyed teen turned his startled gaze toward the intruder. Harry relaxed slightly when he saw Draco Malfoy standing in the portrait hole of Salazar Slytherin, but the teen kept his hand on his wand.

The two boys continued to stare at each other for a few moments longer, giving each other time to take in the other's state of dress.

The blond, as far as Harry could tell, was wearing a pair of fitted black silk pajama pants with green and silver stitching of what looked like a tail that continued under his robe as a creature that the teen could only guess was a snake or dragon. His robe seemed to be a match to the pajama set but green silk with the same stitched design traveling over the shoulder and onto the back in black. Blond hair had not been gelled back yet, leaving the strands to fall against the pale skin of the other teen's face and in front of mesmerizing silver-grey eyes in beautiful platinum wisps. Everything about the Slytherin seemed to screamed rich, beautiful, powerful, and off-limits.

The brunette, on the other, wore a plain red muggle shirt that looked a few sizes too big, making his frame seem smaller than it was. The teen also was wearing a pair of black boxers with red and gold lions scattered across the cloth; the blond would have found himself sneering at such low quality material but found himself slightly distracted by how much tanned skin was revealed for the _lack_ of said material. Draco forced himself to move his gaze to the other teen's hair, finding it to be as messy as it is in classes, except that the tangled strands stuck out in ways across his head and in front of emerald-green eyes in such a way that it gave him the just-shagged-look. In fact, the whole situation that the Gryffindor was in and how he looked gave off that he had just had a nice wank(1).

_Merlin, I really just want to wrap those tan thighs around my waist, grab a hand full of that rat's nest, and give Potter the shag(2) of his life!_ Draco took a deep breath of air, making sure that his 'Malfoy mask' was still in place before slowly letting it out, making sure that he had full control over his body before he strolled forward. _But I suppose people would not take kindly to me raping Harry Potter._

"Good morning, Potter."

"Good morning, Malfoy."

There was a long awkward silence, in which the two looked everywhere but at that other boy, things still clearly odd between the two, not to mention the added thoughts from just now.

"So, where is Granger?" Draco asked looking around the room as if looking for the Head Girl.

"In her room still," Harry fidgeted and shifted where he sat on the bed.

"Ah, does she need to be knocked up(3)?" The blond asked, walking passed the dark-haired boy while straightening his green silk morning robe.

"In the American or British sense?"

The Slytherin let out a bark of laughter before fixing his mask back into place with only a small smirk showing his amusement, "Whichever sense you want, as long as _you_ are the one doing it."

Harry smiled and shook his head, "I'll leave that up to her future husband."

"What? Waking her up or impregnating her?"

The green-eyed teen looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, "Both I suppose, but I'll wake her up today."

Rolling over to the red and gold side of his bed the teen got up, stretching slightly as he walked toward the portrait of Godric Gryffindor and knocked on the frame. The old man in the painting opened his eyes and stared at Harry from his slumped position in his chair, glaring down at the boy before pointing a finger at him. Before the man could say anything though, the portrait swung open to reveal the green-eyed teen's friend.

"Morning, Hare-bear!" The bushy-haired girl smiled at her friend, glancing behind him and nodded to the Slytherin standing within the common-room, "Malfoy."

"Granger," the blond replied returning the nod and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Morning, Mione! Just making sure that you're awake. I'll need to borrow your bathroom after you're done," Harry said noticing that his friend was still in her night-gown.

"Oh, that's fine. I'll be done after I get into my robes and get my books together, it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes." Hermione stated while her smile grew slightly wider.

"Okay, I'll wait, go do your girly-stuff!" The green-eyed teen turned from the bushy-haired girl just catching her stick her tongue out at him before she pulled the portrait closed, leaving it slightly ajar.

"Well no wonder, Potter," Draco drawled as he leaned against the arm of a green chair, "I was beginning to think that you could not help the way your hair is in the mornings, but I see now that you are attempting to make yourself the peak of masculinity by not partaking in grooming, I mean 'girly-stuff'."

"Sod off(4), Malfoy!" Harry said as he flopped back onto his bed and glared at the other teen. "I don't spend more than five minutes in front of a mirror a day, which is more than I can say for you."

"Oh, your words wound me, Potter." The blond's hand flew up to his chest and frowned, brows dropping to look sad and hurt. "I try my hardest to look my best and you cannot appreciate that?"

The green-eyed teen blushed and turned away from the Slytherin. He knew that it wasn't and wouldn't ever be true, but Harry couldn't help but get the feeling that the words 'for you' fell into place after 'best'. When the teen realized that he had turned his back on Draco Malfoy, it was already too late.

A white light hit the Gryffindor in the back, his clothes glowing in a strange green light causing the teen to look down at them. Harry shot up suddenly, giving a shout in surprise as he stared down at his clothes with wide eyes. Apparently, the blond had thought it would be funny to cast a charm on the brunette's clothes so that his red shirt turned green and his boxers were the same black but had green and silver snakes slithering all across the cloth.

"Potter, I am surprised. You do not make Slytherin green look as atrocious as I thought you would. In fact," Draco looked thoughtful for a moment, leaning forward to access his work closer, "it looks quite nice on you."

Harry felt his face warm before feeling it creep over his ears and down his neck, turning his gaze down toward the bed sheet he slipped off the transfigured bed before strolling back over to the portrait that lead to Hermione's room. The green-eyed teen quickly noticed that his friend had left the portrait flagged open for him and he slipped inside, "No one asked you, Malfoy."

The teen closed the portrait behind himself before rushing up the small spiral stair-case that lead to the Head Girl's room above the common-room.

"Mione! I hope you're done with the bathroom!" Harry came to the top of the stairs and noticed the bushy-haired girl packing her school books for the day on her bed.

The girl looked over at him and smiled before it faltered as she took in his state of dress.

The teen looked down at his sleeping clothes and sighed, "Don't ask."

Hermione nodded before pointing to a door off to the right, "I left a clean face towel out for you, and Dobby has already brought you a fresh pair of robes, though I told him he didn't have to."

The green-eyed teen smiled and made his way into the bathroom, growling only slightly when he heard the bushy-haired girl's laughter after he closed the door. The Gryffindor shook himself and began to work around his morning routine.

Little to Harry's knowledge that Hermione was not laughing at what his pajamas had been changed to look like but what had been scrolled across his bottom in white-glowing lettering:

_Property of Draco Malfoy_

* * *

Draco smirked when Potter disappeared behind the portrait of Godric Gryffindor, only to have it widen when he heard the laughing of Granger drift into the common-room. The blond stood from his position and made his way back to Salazar Slytherin's portrait, _It would be a shame if he discovered what is on the back of his boxers before anyone else besides Granger saw them... On second thought, I would rather no one else see his boxers. Maybe I should charm the words to show through his robes?_

* * *

Harry sets down his fork and cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly before picking up his class of pumpkin juice. It was already lunch and Harry found himself holding back opening his letter because of how muddle-headed he felt after his first two morning classes, so he decided that he would wait until he had some food in his stomach. But even as he had finished off most of his plate and drank two whole glasses of pumpkin juice, his mind didn't feel any clearer and he had this constant tickle in the back of his throat that he couldn't get rid of.

"I sent a letter to my parents last night, told them that I wanted them to visit Hogwarts for Christmas this year," Hermione said timidly from her seat off to Harry's right.

"Oh, Hermione! Really! That is _not_ the reason you wanted to stay at Hogwarts this year!" Ginny nearly shouted in a sweetly-teasing voice from her place opposite of the bushy-haired girl; she had a knowing smile on her face that the green-eyed boy knew all-too-well as the youngest Weasley knowing a secret.

"For the love of all that is Merlin, Ginevra Molly Weasley you had better keep your mouth shut."

All eyes in the group turned to look at Hermione as she stood and placed her hand on her wand, ready to draw in order to keep the girl across from her quiet. Unfortunately, it only seemed to encourage the other girl into standing as well as continuing on with what she was saying.

"I've seen the letters. You were embarrassed to tell him _where_ you lived so you decided: 'Why not bring it to neutral ground?' It has nothing to do with you wanting to bring your parents here for Christmas and _everything_ to do with you not wanting _Viktor Krum_ to find out that you're better off than you may seem." The red-head smiled teasingly and leaned forward, "Does he even know you're a Muggle-born?"

"Ginny, I'm warning you." Hermione drew out, her teeth clenched together.

Both girls were ready to draw their wands on each other, quickly drawing attention on themselves as they stood at the table and glared at one another heated. Their slight row(5) was interrupted by a sudden surprised exclamation.

"Mione, you're dating Viktor Krum?"

Students from all across the dining hall turned their attention towards Harry who had also stood and grabbed his bushy-haired friend by the shoulders so that she would face him. But when both Ginny and Hermione noticed the stares that they were receiving they sank down into their seats, and with the help of Neville, dragged the green-eyed teen into sitting back down as well.

Harry rubbed his throat, surprised at how much it hurt after shouting out and took a drink of pumpkin juice to saturate his parched throat.

"Hare-bear," Hermione stated softly, "You've known I was dating Viktor since we started going out last year."

"Hmm? Oh, I know. But it got you two to stop from getting into a serious row, now didn't it?" The green-eyed teen smiled before clearing his throat and continued on eating.

The two Gryffindor girls shared a look before shaking their heads, both thinking the exact same thought: _He's definitely not going to catch on to what I am/Hermione is doing._

After taking the last bit of his potatoes into his mouth he looked up at his friends, finding them all back into their conversations except Hermione, who had a book that she was reading, and Ginny, who surprisingly was staring intently at something behind Harry. Following her line of sight, double taking a few times to out-rule some people, the green-eyed teen found his gaze landing on a Slytherin boy named Clive Kingston. The teen knew him to be one of Malfoy's close 'friends', a pure-blood whose father is a known Death Eater, and had two older brothers that were supposed to become ones as well, but have not with the disappearance of Voldemort.

"I don't think Ginny has the right to talk," Harry whispered as he turned back around, coughing a few times before taking a drink of his pumpkin juice.

The red-head girl hung her head with a sigh, "It doesn't matter if I like him. He won't like me back because I'm a Gryffindor."

"I'm sure that won't happen. Slytherins may sometimes be cruel, but they won't flat out turn someone away because they're Gryffindor," the green-eyed teen said with a smile to lift his friend's spirits slightly.

Ginny rolled her eyes and gave Harry a look that said not only did she not believe him but also that he knew better than that.

"Okay, okay! Maybe they would, but that's in the past! Some of them have changed since the disappearance of Voldemort!" The teen ignored the slight flinches from some people in the group, "Do you honestly think that last year, Draco Malfoy could hold a teasing, let alone civil, conversation with me? I don't think so."

Hermione ducked her head closer to her book to hide the large grin that became plastered across her lips, "I don't think all of its _just_ teasing, Hare-bear."

"What was that, Mione?" The green-eyed boy asked.

"Nothing, nothing," the bushy-haired girl closed her book and slid it back into her bag. Her brown eyes met the lighter shade of brown of the red-head sitting across from her, noticing that the other girl and clearly resigned herself on the matter at hand. "Ginny, I don't think that a pure-blooded wizard, no matter if he is a Slytherin, would turn away a pure-blooded witch that is a beautiful young woman, who is strong and independent, as well as the potential of baring many children." Hermione leaned forward and smiled, "And if they did, they are barmy(6) and don't deserve you."

The red-head girl smiled and looked down at her plate, beginning to push the left-overs around while she went into deep thought.

Harry got elbowed in the side slightly and he looked at the bushy-haired girl who pointed at his pocket, "Did you already open it?"

The teen gave his friend a confused look before turning his gaze down to his pocket where the envelope he had received that morning sat sticking out ever-so-slightly. Green eyes turn to meet brown as he pulled the folded parchment out of his robes, "Not yet, my head has been muddled since morning so I figured I would wait. But I'm feeling a little better. Care to do the honors?"

"I would love to, Hare-bear," she took the envelope from Harry's hand and broke the green wax seal, pulling the out the letter and read it aloud:

_To: Harry Potter_

_Where robes and brooms are kept;_

_A gift awaits, for you to accept._

_Hidden in plain sight;_

_Take care to not take flight._

_From: _

"Is that all?" The green-eyed teen leaned over to look at the words on the parchment and frowned at how short it was.

"Maybe they got rushed?" Hermione could only shrug as she handed the note back to her disappointed friend.

"It's almost depressing how vague it is," Harry sighed, biting his lower lip in order to hide his pout as he stared down at the hand-writing.

_I've been able to narrow the 'Secret Santa' down to no one in all first, second, and third years; it isn't anyone in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fourth or fifth years, and I highly doubt that anyone from Slytherin would do this for Harry. Although I don't want to rule them out unless I have proof, better offer to help Professor McGonagall with her Transfiguration exam grading._ The Head Girl thought to herself as she leaned over her friends shoulder to read the note once more, "Maybe not."

The green-eyed boy refrained from rubbing his eyes, knowing that it wouldn't help with how fuzzy everything felt in his mind. "What do you mean?"

"This is basically a process of elimination here," Hermione tapped the parchment. "There are really only two places you can keep robes with brooms: dormitories and the Quidditch locker rooms. The same goes for flying, there are only two places on campus those students are allowed to do it: flying class and the Quidditch Pitch."

"Meaning that today's present is at the Quidditch Pitch again?"

"More like the locker rooms, probably in the Gryffindor boy's locker room," she shrugged and took a sip of her pumpkin juice, "'Hidden in plain sight', might mean it's near _your_ locker."

Before Harry could respond to Hermione's theory, Ginny stood up from her seat and nodded towards the group who looked up at her, "You're right. There's no use in me sitting around resigning myself to the fact that he will turn me down. If he doesn't like me, than he's just off his broomstick(7)!"

The group of Gryffindors watched as the youngest Weasley spelled a straightening charm on her robes, picked up her book bag, pulled out a sealed envelope, and walked away from them. Instead of turning to leave the hall she passed the Ravenclaw table and made her way down the Slytherin table where she stopped behind a slightly tanned boy with pitch black hair that was neatly parted to one side. As she had made her way to him, Ginny had gathered many on-lookers who were curious as to what a lion was doing venturing into snake territory.

Her friends could only guess what was being exchanged between the two as the red-head said a few words to the Slytherin before holding out the envelope that she had taken from her bag for him to take. The group watched silently as the boy looked around at his friends with a lost look in his ice-blue eyes, before turning back to Ginny and said a few things. The first thing that the Gryffindors noticed was that the boy didn't take the envelope from the youngest Weasley, her hand fell to her side after a few more moments and without letting the boy finish was he was saying, she turned away.

Ginny held her head up as she walked down the Slytherin table but as she ducked her head, her pace quickened and she was in a full-out run as she bolted from the Great Hall.

Harry and Neville were the first ones up from their group, both running after the girl noticing that Clive and a few other Slytherins had gotten up to run after her as well; but they were intercepted at the door by Ron after the two Gryffindor boys had made it through. Both wasted no time in running towards the stair case and up to Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

The green-eyed teen sighed heavily as he began his trek up the stair case to the Quidditch locker rooms, which he normally wouldn't have had a problem with except for how busy today had been and how cold it was outside. Snow had fallen to the point where it was up to Harry's knees on the way down the hill to the Quidditch Pitch.

Despite the teen's best effort to stay warm by casting a heating charm on his clothes, it didn't protect his robes from getting wet and making the material heavier. It was currently still snowing and Harry had tried his hardest to keep the white flakes from getting passed his scarf and hat.

As the brunette reached the final flight to the locker rooms he began to remove his damp over clothes, throwing them onto the bench in front of his locker while removing all his other clothes down to his boxers and under shirt. Harry opened his locker and grumbled when he looked inside, not seeing a present within.

The Gryffindor wasn't in the best of moods after the incident at lunch and how Ginny had refused to come down from the girls' dormitories to go to classes or even when classes were over. The red-head had made it to where none or the other girls could get into the room and she refused to open it until Hermione threatened to floo-call Mrs. Weasley. It didn't make it any better that Ron stomped around the common-room like a trapped hippogriff, huffing and growling angrily.

But was even worse, was that every time the portrait hole of Gryffindor Tower opened it revealed the forms of Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Clive Kingston. All three Slytherins had stayed there until Professor McGonagall had to tell them to leave because they were unintentionally scaring away first and second year students that were trying to get to their dorms.

All in all, Harry was in a fool mood and didn't really feel like taking too long to find his present. So he slammed his locker shut and looked around the room; nothing really seemed out of place, one Hufflepuff and a few Slytherin lockers were open but nothing out of the ordinary. He took a chance and glanced up at the ceiling and noticed that there, floating right above his locker was a metallic-green wrapped present with a large silver bow.

Harry moved his damp robes aside and stepped up onto the bench, stretching his arms as far as they could go in order to reach the levitating box but as he plucked it out of the air, the teen nearly stumbled to the ground when he heard a loud gasp. Jumping down from the bench he turned to meet the brown gaze of none-other than Zacharias Smith.

The brunette gave his the best Slytherin sneer he could muster toward the blond and turned back to his clothes, keeping his gift very close to where he stood casting drying and heating charms onto his clothes. Harry would have been fully content on ignoring the Hufflepuff if the blond hadn't appeared right in front of him while he was putting his trousers back on.

"You swinging for the other team now, Potter?" Zach asked cruelly, taking quick look around before stepping closer to the green-eyed boy. "Or is it Potty? Are you just that Slytherin's toilet? His cum-dump?"

"What the fuck are you spouting, Smith? Just _who_ do you think—?"

Before Harry could finish his sentence he found himself slammed into his locker, his body crushed by the taller form of the Hufflepuff. The green-eyed teen tried to get his wand pointed at the other boy but only got it knocked out of his hand and the tip of the blond's pressed into the side of his jugular. "How's about it, Potter? I don't see your _master_ around, want to make my day and take care of _this_ for me?"

By _this_ Smith meant the bulge in his trousers that was he was grinding roughly into Harry's lower abdomen. The Gryffindor tried to wretch himself away from the blond, but only managed to have the wand tip shoved further into the skin of his neck. The teen clenched his teeth together in rage as the Hufflepuff continued his thrusting motion on his stomach. A sudden urge that he couldn't control filled the brunette, trying to swallow it back it only seemed to make the need worsen and he coughed in Smith's face.

The other teen had been so taken back by it that he had released the pressure of his wand into Harry's neck enough for the green-eyed boy to throw him off, sending him over the bench and flat on his back. But before the scantly clothed teen could get back to his wand, the Hufflepuff had already recovered and was pointing his as the other boy's chest, a hex on the tip of his tongue. "You had better do what I say, Potter. Or else."

"'Or else', what?"

Harry froze and closed his green gaze, turning his head towards the door so that when he opened his eyes he took in the entire Slytherin Quidditch team with their wands drawn on Smith, all of them were glaring down at the sprawled Hufflepuff.

"Merlin, I have _never_ been so happy to see Slytherins in my life!" The green-eyed boy sighed heavily, his exclamation receiving a few snickers of mirth; but none of them moved from their positions across the entry-way, nor did they lower their wands. Harry moved quickly and began to put his clothes back on, noticing out of the corner of his eye how a few of the boys did a double-take on his boxers before looking over at their captain, Draco Malfoy. But the platinum blond paid them no mind as he watched the Gryffindor dress and gather up his present and wand, moving over to locker room entry and slip behind the wall of Quidditch players, walking away.

"Oi, Potter. You are seriously going to walk away after what he did and could have done to you?" Draco asked after the boy who seemed hell-bent on walking away, but the blond's words seemed to have caught the brunette's attention because he turned back around and came back into the locker room. The Slytherins made room for Harry, too curious not to want to miss what the Gryffindor will do.

Setting his gift down and crouching down next to it, the green-eyed boy took his wand and pointed it towards the ground. "Serpensortia." A snake came out of the tip of the brunette's wand, the snake curled up and hissed at Harry, which he only nodded. "I know you're cold, but I will give you a _very_ warm place to sleep tonight and a large meal if you do me a small favor."

The Slytherins were so intrigued with what the teen was doing that they took their eyes off of Smith long enough for him to stand and charge, in attempt to break out; but with a flick of a wrist and 'Stupefy' spell, he was back on the ground and unconscious.

"Remind me not to get on Potter's _really_ bad side," a boy muttered as he took a step back from Harry.

"I'm pretty sure _you_ are almost there, Clive."

"Oi! I didn't get to explain myself!"

"It's best you lot go ahead and get dressed," the Gryffindor muttered as he picked up the snake and walked over to the unconscious Hufflepuff.

"Why's that, Potter?" Draco asked as he followed the brunette over to where Smith, standing by the teen side as he whispered to the snake in Parseltongue; which the blond found extremely sexy, in a really odd way.

"Because I'll be your alibi when the professors come snooping around, wondering why a Hufflepuff was found half frozen to death out in the Quidditch locker room while Slytherin had practice the same day," Harry said with a shrug, receiving a few surprised but amused glances from all the team.

"How very Slytherin of you, and we thank you, Potter." The grey-eyed boy said coolly and he gave a slight bow before moving over to the Slytherin lockers to change with his team.

"Don't thank me," the green-eyed boy whispered as he let the snake slip into the unconscious Smith's pants. Harry stood and walked back over to his present, cast a miniaturizing charm on it before slipping it into his pocket.

When he stood back up he found himself staring into the onyx eyes of his Potions professor, who took a few seconds to look him over before his eyes landed on the Hufflepuff laying out of the ground, clearly recognizing him as the boy who had caused trouble for his house the other day. The black eyes looked on in mirth before stepping into the locker room and addressed the Slytherin students, "Is there any reason that I should hold any of you accountable for what has happened here?"

"No, sir," Draco spoke up first and winked at Harry, who blushed bright red. "Potter arrived at the same time as we did, he clearly saw that we did _nothing_ to the bloke."

Just as Snape was about to clarify the statement with the green-eyed teen, the snake that he had conjured slithered over to him and couched down to accept it into his hands. After petting the creature's head and letting them wrap themselves around his neck, tucking his scarf around them while whispering, "Thank you, my friend. I will reward you when we get back to the dormitories."

"Mr. Potter," Snape said walking over to stand in front of him, "is this true?"

"Yes, sir. I saw them do _nothing_ to Zacharias Smith." Harry nodded as if adding to the fact that he believed his words, though they were only true based on a technicality, but he was keeping to his word no matter what.

"Hm, all of you report back to your respective dormitories, there will be no game today and the trains that leave tomorrow wait for no-one."

"Yes, Professor Snape."

* * *

**A/N:**

Does anybody absolutely hate Zacharias Smith yet? No, not everyone? Well… You will, coming in the next few chapters.

Normally I wouldn't do what I'm doing to him to any character, but I needed a villain since Voldy isn't going to show up until the sequel.

What? _SEQUEL?_

Yeah, I said it. There are just so many things that I'm not going to be able to get to in this fic that I would like to because of the main plot. So I've decided that I would continue on with a similar plot after this fic is finished. Though it will be more spread out, maybe one chapter every two weeks because I still want to get back to my other fan-fics.

Okay, about Clive Kingston. I wanted Ginny to end up with a Slytherin in this but didn't like any of the ones that I found so I made one up! And some of you may be wondering about Blaise Zabini, you will find out in up-coming chapters.

Also, did anyone catch onto the fact that Hermione is helping the professors in order to compare the handwriting to Harry's Secret Santa? You think she's gonna find out who they are before Harry does? Ah! Race against the clock!

On to the fun-stuff!

* * *

**Learning the Meanings:** British Words

Barmy— idiotic

Knocked up— to knock on someone's door to wake them up

Off his broomstick— HP version of 'off his rocker/trolly/onion', it means that they are mental in the since that they have a few screws or marbles loose up stairs

Row— argument

Shag— sex, fucking

Sod off— basically fuck off

Wank— masturbation, jacking off

* * *

**Blooper:**

After taking the last bit of his potatoes into his mouth he looked up at his friends, finding them all back into their conversations except Hermione, who had a book that she was reading, and Ginny, who surprisingly was staring intently at something behind Harry. Following her line of sight, double taking a few times to out-rule some people, the green-eyed teen found his gaze landing on a Slytherin boy named Clive Kingston. The teen knew him to be one of Malfoy's close 'friends', a pure-blood whose father—

"Hold on! Wasn't his name Clive Owen not too long ago?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"NO more interruptions!" The producer screamed off set, ready to throw a rolled up newspaper at the red-head.

The director simply laughed, "I did used to be Owen when the creature was first writing it up, changed it to Kingston."

"Why?"

"Well, two reasons," the director held up two fingers in order to use as emphasis. "Number one, the creatures husband walked up to him while he was typing up the first draft and asked why a British actor was in his fan-fiction. Come to find out that Clive Owen is a famous British actor, but there wasn't really any problem there because he could have just stated in the Author's Note that it was not meant to be the same person."

"And…?"

"Oh! Of course, Ginevra Kingston sounds better than Ginevra Owen."

The youngest Weasley blushed bright-red and sank down further into her seat, "Oh…"

"Okay! Moving on! Take two!"

* * *

**Next Time On:** Until Christmas

"Can't believe mum let us stay!" Ron shouted excitedly while shoveling food into his mouth.

"What I can't believe is that she plans to bring the whole family here for Christmas because you don't want to come to the Burrow, Harry." Ginny smiled slightly, feeling and looking more like herself than she had the day before when she disappeared, though it wasn't hard to tell that it was with the help of some glamours. "You can't seem to escape us."

"I didn't want to escape you or anything like that!" Harry said as he leaned over the table, "I would have loved to go to the Burrow for Christmas! I just didn't want to get in the way of your family reunion!"

"Hm, I'm sure."

The green-eyed boy sat silently staring at the red-head before shaking his head, "This is one Christmas that I won't soon forget. The Malfoys', Weasleys', Grangers', and many other families are coming to say at Hogwarts over the break, it's going to be bloody mental everywhere you go!"

* * *

**A/N:**

Hey! Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter!

Until next chapter!

—UrGayLuvr


	6. Bed Rest

**A/N:**

Hello all! Long time no see!

I apologize for the wait but this chapter is slightly longer than the rest and has a few twists that I think you all will really enjoy. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far, I really enjoy the encouragement.

For those of you that haven't looked at my new updated profile, I'm now sharing my account with my cousin who will be taking over my Inuyasha fanfictions. She'll also be my beta (I got a beta!) and has done a great job of organizing everything. Please don't hesitate to check out her stuff when she begins to post it up.

On to the story! Enjoy!

-UrGayLuvr

* * *

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Title:** Until Christmas

**Chapter 6: **Bed Rest

**Summary:** Harry receives an envelope one Monday morning that will lead him on the most mysterious Christmas adventure he's ever had. Who would have ever thought that it only involved finding presents?

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** May contain poorly written riddles, mysteries, slightly OOC characters, M/M relations, and attempted rape.

* * *

December 13, 1997

"Can't believe mum let us stay!" Ron shouted excitedly while shoveling food into his mouth.

"What I can't believe is that she plans to bring the whole family here for Christmas because you don't want to come to the Burrow, Harry." Ginny smiled slightly, feeling and looking more like herself than she had the day before, when she disappeared. Though it was not hard to tell that it was with the help of some glamours. "You can't seem to escape us."

"I didn't want to escape you or anything like that!" Harry said as he leaned over the table, "I would have loved to go to the Burrow for Christmas! I just didn't want to get in the way of your family reunion!"

"Hm, I'm sure."

The green-eyed boy sat silently staring at the red-head before shaking his head, "This is one Christmas that I won't soon forget. The Malfoys, Weasleys, Grangers, and many other families are coming to stay at Hogwarts over the break; it's going to be bloody mental everywhere you go!"

Everyone in the group nodded simultaneously, but only two people caught onto the slip.

"How did you know that the Malfoys were going to be coming here for the break?" Hermione asked with a smirk as she leaned closer to her friend, taking a piece of bacon off his untouched plate.

"Let alone that Draco Malfoy wasn't leaving?" Neville asked from the other side of the table, taking a sip from his glass.

Harry ducked his head suddenly, trying to hide the growing blush that was quickly spreading across his face. Why he had let the knowledge of the Malfoys staying at the castle this break slip, was beyond him. The teen's mind had been quite out of place since the day before; he couldn't understand anything he read unless he read it three to four times over. But to actually say something related to the incident that he would rather _Obliviate_ himself with a mirror to forget ever happened? _I must be ill._

"He mentioned it, when I was talking to him," the brunette paused, he really did not want to lie to his friends but he did not exactly want them to know about the time that he and a certain blond Slytherin spent together in the Prefects' Bath. Then again, if he did not say _what_ conversation that it was mentioned in, or even that there were multiple ones, his friends would never know the difference. It was not lying, per say, just not the whole truth; but trying to justify it did not make him feel any better about it. "Hermione, you remember, yesterday morning."

"Yes, he was in the common-room before _and_ after you knocked on my door." The bushy-haired girl said, making sure to remind the other teen of exactly what happened after she left to change; which she knew Harry recognized because he hung his head even lower.

"But why didn't you say anything last night, mate?" Ron leaned closer to his friend, forking a few potatoes off his plate and into his mouth.

"Well," the brunette cleared his throat, biting back from coughing, "I had something else on my mind. The conversation that I had with Malfoy had been forgotten at the time."

"What's that?" The red-head asked, his curiosity taking over his hunger.

"Zacharias Smith." Harry said with a shrug, trying to make it seem like it was not a big deal; because he knew that as soon as his friends found out, they were going to be concerned with why he was not more upset, possibly run off to do something that would get them in trouble.

"Him again?" Seamus practically shouted across the table.

"Hare-bear," setting her hand over the green-eyed boy's, Hermione smiled softly, "I know what he did wasn't right—"

"Damn straight!" Dean butted in.

The bushy-haired girl glared at the dark-skinned teen before turning her gaze back towards Harry, shaking her head, "It wasn't right, but there's no need to keep thinking about it. You got your present back so you can forget about him."

"Oh, no, he did something else," the brunette whispered. This got the attention of his friends that he had wanted to avoid. When no one in the group said anything further he reluctantly went on. "He sort of," Harry gulped down his nervousness and the silent rage for what happened, "attacked me in the Quidditch locker room. The Slytherin team happened to be practicing and came in before he managed to do anything more."

"What do you mean _more_?" Ron growled, his fists clenched tightly on top of the table and his blue eyes practically glowing with anger.

The brunette sighed heavily, "He pinned me to the lockers and knocked my wand away, I pushed him over the bench and that's when Malfoy and his team walked in, had their wands on him before anything more happened."

"Son of a—!"

"Ron!" Hermione glared at the red-head until he sat back down. "Right _now_, we all need to focus on the fact that Harry did _not_ get hurt."

Neville nodded in agreement, "We should be thankful that the Slytherins had been there."

"Merlin knows, what kind of injuries Harry would have come back with, if they hadn't," Dean shook his head.

"Where is that good-for-nothing Hufflepuff?" Seamus said looking all along the Hufflepuff house table but not seeing any sign of the blond.

"Probably in the infirmary." The brunette teen replied with a smirk as he sipped at his pumpkin juice, gritting his teeth to keep it down.

"Why?" Ginny asked, though she could already guess the answer.

"Malfoy made sure that I didn't walk away without some pay-back. That's why I have Allister," Harry shrugged it off; even though he knew that the conversation was not over.

"The snake?" Seamus asked, flinching slightly as he though back to the night before when all the room-mates had encountered the brunette's new pet.

The teen smirked and nodded, "I got Alli to do me a favor. I also promised the Slytherins that I would give them an alibi if they needed one, because they didn't do anything wrong." He picked up a piece of bacon and broke it in half, seemingly pleased with the way it crunched before he took a small bite. "But, I figured, since I conjured him—I'd keep him. He's my responsibility now."

Everyone in the group went silent, thinking of what they were going to do to Zacharias Smith next time that they saw him and wondering exactly _how_ close Harry had become to the Slytherins, it was curious that lately he would mention either them or Draco Malfoy.

"Hare-bear, eat more."

Unruly black locks flew around as Harry shook his head, "I'm not hungry."

"You getting sick, mate?" Ron asked after wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

"Maybe," the teen felt tired, despite him receiving almost ten hours of sleep the night before. With a sigh he hung his head, feeling like he did not have the strength to simply hold it up.

From across the table deep brown eyes stared worried at the top of the green-eyed teen's head, "Maybe you should just go see Madam Pomfrey instead of seeing Seamus and I off?"

"Dean, don't even joke," Harry said with an irritated huff. "I want to see you two off. Besides, Hogsmeade isn't _that_ far of a walk."

"But it's bloody Baltic outside! You'll catch your death out there if you're sick!" Dean shot back; he was concerned for his friend and didn't want anything more to happen to other Gryffindor.

"A few days of bed rest and I will be just fine," the green-eyed teen sighed out in response, simply shrugging off the fact that he could possibly be sick. If there was one thing that he hated more than being told what to do, it was being told what he could not do; and that would end up being _everything_ if he admitted to the fact he could be ill.

"Bull!" Hermione shouted at her friend, causing a few of the people around the group to jump slightly, fully not expecting _Hermione Goody-Two-Shoes Granger_ to throw out any type of curse, no matter _how_ mild.

"Mione!" Harry was just as taken aback as the other students around them were.

"Don't 'Mione' me!" The bushy-haired girl's face was heated with frustration, "You are lying out of your arse and you know it! You are purposefully ignoring the fact that you are sick!"

There was an unsteady silence among the group as they stared at Harry, he only being able to stare back in response. Surprisingly, it was Ron who broke the silence.

"She's right, mate. I mean, you have done it before," the youngest Weasley boy looked reluctant to admit that Hermione was right, years of relationship tension were hard for him to forget but he'd put it aside for his friends' and her happiness. Blue-eyes met deep-brown for the briefest of moments before turning back to meet Harry's, "Besides, we don't want you under anymore stress."

"Smith included," Dean slid in just after Ron finished speaking.

"Yeah," the red-head bounced back with more fire in his sky colored eyes, "It isn't as if the Hufflepuss can get into the tower anyways! He doesn't know the password!"

The group remained quiet after Ron's statement; all eyes turned on him at once, grins bright on all of their faces.

"Hufflepuss?"

"Yeah, git's as scared as a cat most of the time, and can be just as wimpy. Muggles call that 'being a pussy', so I combined Hufflepuff and pussy, getting 'Hufflepuss'."

The group immediately burst into laughter, though for Harry it quickly turned into a coughing fit that soon got the attention of many of his fellow Gryffindors, even some other passing students. All the looks he received were out of concern or even interest as to what had caused it. He continued on coughing, not because he could not stop the fit but because of his best friend's uncouth manner, so he continued to laugh. Though it came out coughing.

"Oh, Hare-bear, stop it." Hermione smiled and rubbed the green-eyed boy's back lightly, until he began to take deep breaths and gained control.

"Honestly, Ron," Harry cleared his throat, taking up his glass, "Where do you get off making up words like that?"

The red-head grinned widely, "If a Slytherin can do it, I can too."

"Does that mean," Ginny gasped dramatically, hands covering her mouth as she leaned back away from her brother. "Do you mean to say that _you_ are a Death Eater?"

Ron's face suddenly drained of any color and his jaw dropped, the shock leaving him helpless to speak.

Harry tried his hardest to keep from laughing but he could not help himself and was sent into another coughing fit, which had Hermione all over him again.

"That's it, I'm taking you to Madame Pomfrey," the bushy-haired girl leaned over her friend, rubbing his back harder than before while making sure that he drank his pumpkin juice slowly.

"She's right, mate." Dean said leaning forward, "I don't want you to get any more sick, just to see me off for the break. I'll feel bad because of it."

"Yeah, besides," Seamus said, "we'll be coming back from break early. It isn't often that we're able to do whatever we want on school property because we don't have classes or homework to worry about."

The group laughed lightly at that, knowing exactly what the teenage boy was talking about. A nearly abandoned school, no classes to be in, or homework to do; best thing a teenager could ask for on school grounds.

"But I don't want to go see Madame Pomfrey," the green-eyed teen muttered.

* * *

"Take this, Mr. Potter," the nurse said quietly as she held a potion bottle out towards the teen seated before her. "I want you to go back to your dormitory to get some rest; and I mean sleep, not run around talking with your friends in the snow. _Sleep_, Mr. Potter. Am I understood?"

The black-haired boy nodded, shoulders slumping forward like he was receiving a scolding, "Yes, ma'am."

Madame Pomfrey gave a curt nod in return before turning towards an occupied bed near the end of the room, "First you come to me bruised and nearly broken, _then_ you're sick! You had better watch you health more carefully, Mr. Potter, or you'll put _me_ in St. Mungos out of worry!"

Harry knew that the older woman wasn't talking towards him so he chose not to respond, but he could not keep from smiling about what she had said. It did feel nice once in a while to hear that people other than his friends actually cared about his well being _not_ because he was famous, but just _because_. He glanced at the bottle in his hand and nearly sneered, _Though, I don't like taking potions._

Sighing, the green-eyed boy opened the glass container and downed the potion within, before he could will himself not to do it. Blanching at the taste, Harry set the container onto the bedside table but did not stand up immediately; simply thinking back to this morning when he did not have a letter delivered to him today.

_Maybe they are going to deliver them another way? They did tell me to rest._ Harry smirked to himself as he slipped out of the hospital bed and straighten his robes, _Though I don't think he predicted that I would end up sick._ Shaking his unruly black locks he began to make his way out of the hall at a slow pace, whispering quietly to himself, "Better go check up on Allister."

* * *

The halls were strangely cold as Harry made his way up to Gryffindor tower, he could almost swear that he could see his own breath but any of the few people that were left at Hogwarts did not seem to notice it. Shaking his head, walking up onto the portrait of the Fat Lady; unfortunately for him, she decided that she wanted to talk to him about her opera ideas.

Harry coughed lightly and shivered, "I'm sorry, ma'am. But as much as I would like to listen to your tangent about opera, I need to get into the common-room. I'm not feeling too well today."

"Oh, dear." Her face suddenly turned worried before her portrait swung open. "You poor thing, hurry inside."

Despite him moving forward in acceptance of the invitation, he looked quizzical, "No password needed?"

The Fat Lady huffed at the boy, closing behind him as she indirectly scolded him, "As if I couldn't tell who you are."

The dark-haired Gryffindor found himself sighing heavily as he entered the common-room from the hall. Harry took notice that only Neville was present, which surprised him because the others should have been back from seeing Seamus and Dean off; or at least Ginny should have still been around. He merely shrugged and smiled at the other boy, who waved at him as he looked up from the journal and books lay out in front of him.

"Hey Neville."

"Hello Harry. What did Madame Pomfrey say?" Neville asked as he closed an especially large tome that had the words all lined to the left of the pages in short bursts.

"That I should get in bed and not move for a good time," Harry shrugged at that and moved closer to the other dark-haired boy, reading a few of the book titles but all the ones he could make out were in different languages. "What are you reading?"

The other boy looked down at the books in front of him, as if contemplating what he was actually reading; and normally, Harry would think this was strange and become suspicious... if it were anyone else but Neville. So the green-eyed boy quickly discounted it for nerves, he confirmed his decision when the other boy blushed and ducked his head. "It's: The Workings of Famous Wizard Poetry, all eight volumes."

Harry laughed at that, "Wow, talk about dedication. I didn't know enough wizards wrote poetry to fill one volume let alone eight!"

The shier boy nodded and smiled, lifting his gaze toward the other boy's, "It's more than just their poems though, it has the meanings and history behind the words. It can be very enlightening."

"I bet you are only reading those by Herbologists," Harry took a guess in the dark before moving towards the staircase to the boys' dorms, his suspicions were confirmed when he found Neville's head once again ducked near the cover of the closed book. He laughed lightly before moving up the stairs with a wave, "I'm taking a nap. Could you wake me up for lunch?"

"Sure, Harry." It may have taken a few seconds for the other boy to respond, by which time Harry was already moving up the stairs, though he had still heard him and shouted down his thanks.

The dark-haired teen tried to avoid yawning as he opened the door to his dorm but only managed to keep his lips closed as his jaw stretched open, causing him to make an amusing face. At least to Allister, which was the only other in the room, he stated as such to Harry as the young man made his way over to his bed.

"Shut your gob, Alli. I was trying to hold it back!" The teen pouted when the snake told him he failed but shook his head and stretch his arms out in front of him. He shivered when he felt a cold breeze brush over his hands and turned his green-gaze up to see that the window by Neville's bed was open.

Harry figured he had just forgot to close it, but as he made his way to the open window Allister stated an owl came through it while he was away. He gave the snake a confused look, "What owl?"

The snake's tail flicked up in mock shrug as he hissed, he had never met the owl before, but he did not know many owls to begin with; something about predator versus predator. Green-eyes followed the tip of Allister's tail as it pointed towards the pillow; the owl had left a letter—in a very familiar envelope.

Excitement coiled in Harry's stomach as he raced over to the letter, laying down on his bed next to the snake, allowing his slithering companion to curl around his neck for warmth as the teen opened and began to read the parchment; surprised he did not find the normal time constraint writing on the front.

_To: Harry Potter_

_It is not shiny, nor fancy, nor flashy;_

_Though its wrappings are anything but trashy. _

_This small package holds something very dear;_

_Within it, is something to be kept near._

_Then, sense is to be made, when it is hidden close by;_

_Do be careful where you lie._

_From:_

Tilting his head to the side, Harry stared at the ornate writing for a few more seconds before he set his letter down and began to grope at his sheets and mattress. The snake began to ask if his new master had lost his mind and was attempting to find it, but found green eyes glaring down at him before he was finished and thought better of the rest of the statement. Survival comes first, food second, insults third; the first two he was looking at a reduction in. Shame, Allister thought it was very clever.

The teen had turned his covers over but found nothing beneath them, so he did the same to his pillows, only to hear something fall onto the floor.

"Eep!" Harry dove after the sound, hanging half-way off his bed he came face-to-face—more like face-to-box but those are just particulars—with a plain, small rectangular white box with a simple red-velvet ribbon framing each corner like a picture frame. The picture being another letter.

The teen ignored the snake's comments about the indignant sound he made and picked up his new present, elbowing his way back onto the mattress.

The box was only slightly bigger than the envelope that the ribbon framed, making it slightly difficult to remove the letter without removing the ribbon from the box. He managed it after a minute and placed his new present among the others, in his bedside table drawer before turning his attention back to his new letter.

When Harry made no move to open it, Allister made an annoyed sound and told him to hurry up.

The green-eyed teen sighed, but could not hold the thrill that filled his stomach and made it flutter. As his finger brushed under the wax seal, he could not help think there was something different about the pattern impressed into the wax. It still appeared to be the knotted design he had seen before; but there was something more to it, Harry just could not seem to place it. Seeing as how it did not seem important, he moved on and pulled out the letter within. This time, it was his heart that fluttered.

Blimey, he did not know how someone he did not know could affect him so much.

_To: Harry Potter_

_Another present, for you my dear Harry;_

_Your holiday, I will endeavor, to make merry._

_Though only six have reached you;_

_There are many more that have yet to._

_It is the first day of the break;_

_That I find you ill, makes my heart ache._

_All the more to bring you a smile;_

_As you take to rest awhile._

_From:_

Allister stated it was lame. He was promptly flicked on the head before Harry moved to lie down and get some sleep. Though he did not spend much energy searching for his new present, he was beginning to feel flustered and dizzy.

When Neville later tried to wake him up, the half-asleep teen just stated he was too tired to move and that he would simply get lunch later. Maybe if he had gone with the other Gryffindor to eat, he would have not been vulnerable to an attack.

* * *

"What is the word from father?" A blond-haired figure whispered to his dark-haired companion that joined him on the deep-green sofa only moments before.

"He has disappeared." The other replied as evenly as he could manage, yet the disbelief still lingered in his tone

The blond remained silent, in clear shock before he schooled his facial expression and released a slightly shuttered breath. "How could this be?"

The dark-haired man did not respond.

"You are not joking," the younger looked away from the elder and out across the common-room. "I was sure that it could not be true, but neither you nor father would jest as such. Not about _him_."

Again the man did not supply a response, but he did give a slow nod.

"What of the mark?" The blond turned his gaze towards the left fore-arm of his dark-haired companion, curiosity and fear the main emotions warring in his eyes.

"Faded." The response was simple, concise, but it spoke volumes all on its own. Instead of leaving all he had to say at that, he continued, "Bellatrix is frantic."

The blond sighed heavily and leaned further back into the sofa, the smile on his lips soft and sad, "Auntie-Bella is beyond salvaging, isn't she?"

The dark-haired man turned equally dark eyes towards the younger and sneered, "Your nickname for your aunt is unbecoming of you, contractions are for use of muggles and muggle-lovers, and your posture is deplorable." The look that the elder received from the younger man was unamused and flat, before a grin came slowly over his lips.

"But you did not say it was unbecoming of her, now did you?"

"Honestly, Draco, of all of the things that you could have pulled from my statement, _that_ is the one you chose?" The man's voice was almost sounded exasperated, but the blond knew better than to comment on it.

"I see what I want," Draco replied with a shrug and straightened his posture before the elder dug his wand-tip into the blonde's side, as he had done so in the past.

Dark eye met his own grey ones with a softened look, "You see what you should, and say what you want." This time the elder did let out an exasperated sigh, shoulders relaxing only slightly before regarding the blond with a small curl at the corner of his lips; not that he would ever admit smiling at anyone, but his god-son did soften him at times. "So much like your father in that regard."

The grin on Draco's lips widened, "I would say more like you, Sev."

The professor shook his head and he turned troubled eyes to gaze across the near empty common-room, "I see what should not be, and say what I must." Dark eyes quickly turned to meet those of the blond, a promise mixed with a threat swirling deep within them, "Never become like that, Draco. It will ruin you."

A silence spread over the two extending over the common-room as the other Slytherins within it sensed the pair's conversation came to a close and began to gather closer to them, a few students disappearing to the dorm-rooms before reappearing with more trailing after them. There were very few younger years present, most of the Slytherin remaining were among the fifth and higher years, but the younger ones that were among the group consisted of mostly siblings to the elder students.

Severus' gaze drifted over all of the children that would be forced to remain in Hogwarts for the break because of _his_ sudden disappearance, the children of those closest to _him_ would more than likely spend their Christmas away from their families, their parents. A weight that the professor did not feel comfortable with pressed on his heart.

_It is best to put their minds at ease immediately. They are Slytherin after all, their imaginations will throw their state of mind into a frenzy._

Allowing himself a few more seconds to collect himself, he began to explain the situation to the students under his care; all the while, thinking of the man that he would be taking more care of that night.

* * *

The atmosphere in the Great Hall was off. The few Hufflepuffs left would claim it is because there are so few students remaining at school that dinner seems less lively. The more paranoid Gryffindors left would point out the fact that they were out-numbered by Slytherins at least three to one. The Ravenclaws, if not otherwise occupied, would state that there was more to the atmosphere than there was to be seen (because of the nargles). The Slytherins would not say, but they knew the true reason.

It was probably the tense air that caused the fight in the first place, when a certain blond Hufflepuff got bored with those left at his table and made his way to bother that of a certain red-head Gryffindor that arrived earlier than most of her companions. Even the presence of another Gryffindor did not detour the blond from re-thinking whatever thoughts were occupying his mind. He being freshly released from the infirmary after a rather embarrassing incident, and potions still running fresh through his veins probably was not helping his better judgment either.

But the call for revenge was burning in his stomach. What he had already done did not seem like enough to him. He needed more.

"Hey Weaselette!"

_Oh, come off it! You can't even think up your own insults! Malfoy started that years ago!_ Ginny rolled her eyes and ignored the approaching Hufflepuff, he would embarrass himself instead of her as long as she blatantly ignored him. But she did notice how Neville shifted slightly closer to her, giving her his silent support.

"Where's little Potty?" Zacharias practically shouted at the girl, though he only stood a few feet from her. His voice was biting, accompanied with an awkward yet confident smirk smeared across his lips; but it quickly slipped into a deep frown when he noticed the Gryffindor did not even flinch. "I can't believe you're so ugly that you get rejected by two guys in public!"

The youngest Weasley was able to take a calming breath before turning her attention to the food on her plate; which slowly became unappetizing, no matter her favor of meat pies and pumpkin-sweet potatoes.

Seeing that he was not getting the response that he had wanted, he quickly changed tactics. Leaning in to whisper into Ginny's ear he softly said, "I heard you got the boot by a snake. How's it feel to not even be good enough for something so close to the ground?"

The red-head had every intention of ignoring the blond—she could take a few insults from a Hufflepuff, she had learned how to keep her cool with having to deal with Slytherins in previous years—but her resolve was shattered when he insulted her crush (no matter her current anger towards Clive). She jumped up from her seat, blue-eyes blazing in furry, "You shut your gob, you incessant annoying twit!"

Zacharias just sneered at the girl, raising his wand so that it was level with her heart.

The spell spouted echoed throughout the Great Hall, leaving a heavy and ominous silence hanging over every person within it.

**

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**

A/N:

So… Does anyone not hate me, yet?

You will. Trust me.

Onto the fun stuff!

**

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**

Blooper:

Harry coughed lightly and shivered, "I'm sorry, ma'am. But as much as I would like to listen to your tangent about opera, I need to get into the common-room. I'm not feeling too well today."

"Oh, dear. You poor thing, hurry inside."

The teen stood there looking at the still closed portrait and blinked before a smile came over his lips. He turned and looked off stage at the director, finding his face red in anger.

"Why is the picture not opening! Someone fix this!"

A noise resembling a scoff but was more of a caught laugh escaped Harry, noticing the directors face colored even more when Neville physically opened the portrait and poked his head out towards the cameras.

"Um, are we taking a break?"

"NO! No breaks! Fix my picture! Bloody fix it now!"

Harry caught Neville's eyes and winked, "He's more of a diva than Ron is on a good day."

**

* * *

**

Next Time On:

Until Christmas

He felt floaty, almost weightless. The feeling reminded him of the first time that he was allowed to get into a pool when he was nine. Vernon was usually quite strict on what Harry was not allowed to do, or to even been seen in public anywhere around the Dursley house-hold. But that day he was kept late at the office and Dudley was whining to aunt Petunia about how he wanted to go to the public pool.

Unfortunately, it was not the time of year for the public pool to be open, so she decided to take them both to a close friend of hers. Though his fat cousin had quickly become bored with being in the pool by himself, so he found something else in the house to do. That's when his aunt had approached Harry, telling him that he could swim if he wanted to; but of course he did not know how. She offered to show him how to float, because it was the first step.

Harry could not remember a time that his aunt had been so nice before or after that day.

_Wait. Why am I thinking about that?_ His mind sluggishly worked back through his thought tangent. _Oh, yeah. The floaty feeling. Ah, nice._

But he tried not to force himself into consciousness; he knew what lay beyond that was nothing but pain. Though, he could not place how he knew that.

**

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**

A/N:

Okay everyone! Hope you had fun!

Ah, I need your help. There is this HP fanfic that I remember reading a few years back and I cannot seem to find it any longer. I don't remember the title or author, so I was wondering if anyone can help me find it again. It was a oneshot (that I remember), starring DM/HP, Harry was gay and he was trying to convince Ginny that he was but she kept coming onto him. So he seeks out Draco's help and asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend so that Ginny would leave him alone. Harry eventually ends up falling for Draco. I remember that Harry offered Draco money for it and that Ginny was going out of her way to be super girly for Harry; there was also a scene when Draco finds out Harry loves him when he asks what Harry is looking at and he says, "You." Anyways, it was cute and I would like to favorite it but I can't find it. I would appreciate it if anyone can point me in the right direction.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

See you next chapter!

-UrGayLuvr


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